Ricardo Flores Magón and the Liberal Party: an inquiry into the origins of the Mexican revolution of 1910

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BY

WARD SLOAN ALBRO, III

1967 RICARDO FLORES MAGON AND THE LIBERAL PARTY:

AN INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGINS OF THE

MEXICAN REVOLUTION OF 1910

by

Ward Sloan Albro, III

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

In the Graduate College

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

19 6 7 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

GRADUATE COLLEGE

I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my

direction by Ward Sloan Albro. Ill______

entitled ftir.ardo Flores Maron and the Liberal Party: An Inquiry

into the Origins of the Mexican Revolution of 1910

be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement of the

degree of Doctor of Philosophy______

After inspection of the dissertation, the following members

of the Final Examination Committee concur in its approval and

recommend its acceptance:*

f + 6 7 Q/Aa. 1/ / 9&7 /?& .V, pa z Z

*This approval and acceptance is contingent on the candidate's adequate performance and defense of this dissertation at the final oral examination. The inclusion of this sheet bound into the library copy of the dissertation is evidence of satisfactory performance at the final examination. STATEMENT BY AUTHOR

This dissertation has been submitted in partial ful­ fillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library.

Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknow­ ledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder.

SIGNED: AAA PREFACE

This study of one aspect of the career of Ricardo

Flores Magon stems from a curiosity which long remained idle.

When I first became interested in the history of Mexico, and began to read some of the literature on that nation, I was in­ trigued by the usually brief references to the Flores Mag6ns

in so many books, both general and specific in coverage.

Most often, in dealing with the period just before the Madero

revolt, authors would write something about the "Flores Mag6n

brothers" agitating among workers in Mexico from their head­

quarters in St. Louis, Missouri. Who were the Flores Magons?

What were they doing in St. Louis? How did they carry on

their agitation among the workers? How much did they do to

prepare for the Revolution? I asked myself these questions

many times, but never attempted any answers until this study.

My first discovery was that it was Ricardo Flores Magon, not

the "Flores Magon brothers," who had to be the focus of this

work. This fact and my other early questions I have tried to

deal with in the following pages.

It is a long way from an undergraduate history course

to this work, and I am most grateful to Professor Jack A.

iv V

Haddick of the University of Houston for introducing me to the ever-fascinating field of the history of Latin America in gen­ eral and Mexico in particular. My commitment to this area of study was reinforced by contacts with the infectious enthusiasm and scholarly attainments of Professor Mario Rodriguez of the

University of Arizona. I owe a special debt to Professor

Russell C. Ewing of that same school who directed my graduate work and assisted me in any number of ways, both before and during the writing of this dissertation. The dissertation itself has benefited from careful reading and astute criticisms by Professors Ewing, Rodriguez, Donald N. hammers, and Robert

C. Stevens, all of the University of Arizona.

From initial inquiries through finished work, I have found my way strewn with encouragement and assistance. At the inception of my efforts, I received helpful advice from Pro­ fessor Lowell L. Blaisdell of Texas Technological College and Professor Stanley R. Ross of the State University of New

York at Stony Brook. Professor Lyle C. Brown of Baylor Uni­ versity graciously shared the results of some of his research f and rendered, as well, most valuable bibliographical assistance.

The staff of the National Archives in Washington, D.C., proved most competent and cooperative in my. work there. In the same city, the Bureau of Prisons staff located important records for me. The staff of the Library at the University of Arizona greatly facilitated my work. The Department of History at vi

Arizona also obtained for the Library many items vital to this study.

In Mexico, Nicolas T. Bernal was my guide, my informant, and my "letter" of introduction. I often thought that Flores

Magon must have been a special kind of man to gain such devo­ tion from as fine a person as Bernal. Jose Munoz Cota gave me a number of his published works on Flores Magon and shared his views in conversation. I profited from talks with Pablo

L. Martinez about Flores Magdn and Baja California, and also from a delightful visit with Ethel Duffy Turner in Cuernavaca,

Morelos. I thank Eduardo Blanquel for sending me a copy of his study on magonismo, and Arturo Romero Cervantes for in­ formative conversations. Dr. Gustavo A. Perez Trejo, Director of the Biblioteca de la Secretaria de Hacienda and the

Hemeroteca Nacional, put the resources of both at my disposal.

He also arranged for me to work in most pleasant surroundings at the Hemeroteca. Miss Gloria Campos Aguayo of the Hemeroteca staff was most helpful in my work there.

I am grateful to the members of the Arizona-Wilson

Fellowship Committee for financial assistance in the comple­ tion of this work. For my entire graduate career I thank my parents and my wife's parents for timely, generous, and gra­ ciously-given gifts and loans. While I pursued the student's life, my wife, Sonja, worked, took off brief periods to bear three fine sons, and encouraged and aided me in countless ways.

Whatever I might have accomplished can only pale in comparison. TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE REGENERATION OF MEXICAN LIBERALISM . . . 1

II. "INFLAMING MEXICANS TO NOBLE INDIGNATION" . . 33

III. A PROGRAM FOR A REVOLUTION ...... 65

IV. THE FAILURE OF A REVOLUTION ...... 86

V. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA VERSUS RICARDO FLORES M A G O N ...... 121

VI. ANARCHISM, REBELLION, AND THE "NOTORIOUS" GUERRERO ...... 161

VII. SUCCESS AND FAILURE: THE REVOLUTION OF 1910 . 192

EPILOGUE: "ALWAYS A REBEL, ALWAYS UNBENDING". 229 A NOTE ON SOURCES...... 242 REFERENCES ...... 248

vii RICARDO FLORES MAGON AND THE LIBERAL PARTY:

AN INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGINS OF THE

MEXICAN REVOLUTION OF 1910

Ward Sloan Albro, III, Ph.D.

The University of Arizona, 1967

Director: Russell C. Ewing, Ph.D.

Ricardo Flores Magon's importance in Mexican history comes from his role as the precursor of the Revolution of 1910, this century's first great social revolution. To what extent

Flores Magon and his Liberal Party prepared the way for the

Revolution has not been thoroughly evaluated, nor has it been explained why Flores Magon was unable to remain a significant leader once the Revolution developed.

Ricardo Flores MagGn entered active opposition to the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz in 1900, and his talents as a political journalist soon put him in the forefront of a re­ surgent Mexican liberalism. When the dictatorship moved to suppress the developing opposition, Flores MagGn decided he could more effectively carry on his work from the United

States. First from San Antonio, then from St. Louis, he and his followers tried to unite Mexican liberals into a meaning­ ful opposition. In St. Louis, they formed the Junta of the

Mexican Liberal Party, announcing their intention of competing

viii for power in Mexico. Flores Magon's periodical, Regeneracidn, carried this news to a large audience in Mexico.

By 1906, the Liberal Party had evolved from political opposition to a revolutionary movement. Liberal propaganda was blamed for the historic mining strike and riot at Cananea,

Sonora, in June, 1906. That summer also marked the publication of the Program of the Liberal Party, the first thorough in­ dictment of the Diaz regime and plan for the political, so­ cial, and economic reorganization of Mexico. Not until the

Constitution of 1917 were most of these Liberal goals to be

achieved, at least in writing. In the fall of 1906, Flores

Magon and the Liberals tried to lead a revolution. The govern­ ment easily put down the poorly planned revolt, capturing many

Liberal leaders in the process. Soon after this came another major labor dispute, the bloody suppression of the Rio Blanco

textile strike, and again Liberal propaganda received a measure

of the blame.

Flores Mag6n himself was apprehended in Los Angeles in

1907. After some indecision, the authorities charged him and

two associates with violations of United States neutrality laws,

basing their charges on instructions sent to Liberals in Arizona

regarding the proposed uprising in 1906. Flores Mag6n, jailed

in Los Angeles, fought extradition to the Arizona Territory for

a year and a half. In early 1909, after losing all appeals,

the Mexican Liberals were tried in Tombstone, Arizona, convicted,

and sentenced to eighteen months in territorial prison. Thus, .X Flores Mag6n was removed from an active role in the opposition for three crucial years.

The Liberals attempted another revolt in 1908, again meeting failure. When Flores Mag6n was released in 1910, events were rapidly moving toward revolution in Mexico. Now an anarchist, Flores Mag6n could not cooperate with the leader of the revolt, Francisco I. Madero, an earnest political re­ former. Many of the leading Liberals joined Madero, as the magonista movement began to dissolve.

Flores MagGn did not and could not succeed as a revo­

lutionary leader in Mexico. He was a writer, not a leader in the field. He did not go into Mexico in 1910. Imprisoned, he could not take advantage of the growing discontent just before

1910. Had he tried to become an active revolutionary leader in 1910, his beliefs were such he could not have succeeded.

If anarchism could ever work, powerful forces in both the

United States and Mexico would not have permitted an experi­ ment in anarchism in Mexico in 1910. Flores Magon had only his dreams when he died in Leavenworth Penitentiary in 1922. CHAPTER I

THE REGENERATION OF MEXICAN LIBERALISM

". . . Ricardo and Porfirio, the eagle and the serpent." --Jose"Munoz Cota^

Claude I. Dawson, American Consul-General in Mexico

City, wrote to the United States Department of State Janu­ ary 17, 1923, regarding a-disturbing demonstration he had just seen: "the late Flores Magon, who died at Fort Leavenworth prison, was given what amounted to a public funeral yesterday afternoon." Dawson noted that the funeral was attended by diverse groups ranging from "well dressed public officials to the rabble." Concerned about what he considered the radical nature of the Mexican government of President Alvaro Obregon,

Dawson pointed out that a conspicuously placed floral decora­ tion "attracted attention because of the profusion of deep red ribbons bearing in large print the name of the donor, General

Alvaro Obregon." Red and black flags were much in evidence, but the American official reported he saw no flags of the

Mexican nation, despite the semi-official nature of the funeral. Something that seemed even more incongruous

^Jose Munoz Cota, Ricardo Flores Magon, Corridos (Mexico: Biblioteca de Literatura Mexicana, Editorial Cas- talia, 1963), p. 17.

1 2 for a public demonstration so warmly supported by an estab­ lished government was the principal banner, which "carried the inscription, in white on a red background, 'He died for 2 Anarchy.1"

Ricardo Flores Mag6n was a hero to the government of

Mexico, ^s well as to the people; and he has remained an of- ficial hero in revolution-conscious Mexico to this day. The present-day fame of Flores Magdn in his native country^ arises

from his role as leader of the opposition to the oppressive

regime of the dictator, Porfirio Diaz. Recognized as perhaps

the foremost precursor of the momentous Mexican Revolution of

1910, Flores Magon's fame in Mexico is secured by ignoring

the fact that he just as violently opposed the successors to

Diaz -- Francisco I. Madero, Victoriano Huerta, and Venustiano

Carranza. Shortly after the Revolution developed, he openly

opposed all governments, but during most of his years of

heroic opposition to Diaz, Ricardo Flores Magdn was not an

avowed anarchist. This was a conviction which he concealed

for a time from all but a few of.his followers.

Dawson’s concern was also appropriate: Even in death

Flores Magdn worried the government of the United States. A

resident of the northern Republic for the last nineteen years 2

2 Claude I. Dawson to the Department of State, Jan. 17, 1923, United States Department of State Records. National Archives, Washington (cited hereafter as Dept, of State, NA), File 311.1221. 3

of his life, Ricardo Flores Magdn had been a problem ever

since he crossed the border at Laredo, Texas, in January, 1904,

a political exile fearful that further activities in Mexico would cost him his life. He spent thirteen of those nineteen years in penal institutions in the United States. He died in

the fourth year of his final sentence, a twenty-one year term.

What had begun as a struggle against the Diaz dictatorship became in time a struggle also against the cooperative United

States officials who assisted Diaz and the Mexican government

above and beyond good neighborliness, and, in some cases,

even legality. The importance of Ricardo Flores Magon in the

history of his own nation lay in his career prior to the

Revolution. It was in that period that the Partido Liberal

Mexicano, directed by Flores Magdn, clearly represented the

most important organized opposition to Porfirio Diaz. It

was this party that drew up the first comprehensive indictment

of the dictatorship in 1906, laying down concrete proposals

for the future of Mexico. It was not until the Constitution

of 1917 that many of these proposals were accepted, at least

in writing, by the revolutionary Mexican government.

In Mexico, the wealthy hacendado from Coahuila,

Francisco I, Madero, a zealous political reformer, is venerated

as the man who initiated and successfully led the Mexican

Revolution of 1910, which developed into the first great so­

cial revolution of the twentieth centuryj yet Flores Magdn

denounced the apostle of Mexican democracy as a "traitor to 4 3 the cause of liberty" for his direction of the Revolution.

An evaluation of the career of Flores Mag6n as a precursor of the Revolution raises certain significant questions: To what extent did the work of Flores Mag6n and the Partido Liberal

Mexicano contribute to the overthrow of Porfirio Diaz? With­ out a Ricardo Flores Mag6n, could there have been a Francisco

I. Madero? Once the Revolution began, why did Madero gain almost universal support even when vigorously opposed by

Flores Magdn? In other words, why was Flores Magon unable to become a significant revolutionary leader? In tracing the political career of Ricardo Flores Magon through the years

1900 to 1911, these questions are prominent and answers must necessarily be suggested.

In 1873, on Mexican Independence Day, September 16,

Ricardo Flores Magon was born in San Antonio EloxochitlSn,

Oaxaca, the mountainous southern state which also gave Mexico

Benito Juarez and Porfirio Diaz. Flores Magon*s birth came

just three years before Diaz first came to power in Mexico,

the result of an armed revolt under the Plan of Tuxtepec.

Ricardo's father, Teodoro Flores, an Indian, was a veteran

of the War of the Reform and the French Intervention. He

rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and served, ironical­

ly, under General Diaz. The mother, Margarita Magon, was a

^See Stanley R. Ross, Francisco I. Madero, Apostle of Mexican Democracy (New York: Columbia University Press, 1955). For Flores MagSn's statement, see Regeneracidn, Feb. 25, 1911. 5 mestiza. Ricardo was the second of three sons. JesGs was born in 1872 in San Sim6n and Enrique in 1877 in TeotitlSn, both towns in Oaxaca. The brothers took sometime active roles in the struggle against Diaz, although Enrique was by far the more constant supporter of Ricardo. The latter con­ siderably overshadowed both his brothers in revolutionary ac­ tivities.4

The later beliefs of Ricardo were perhaps influenced by certain experiences of life in Oaxaca. His father fought for the nineteenth century liberalism of Judrez, rallying even to the standard of Diaz under the "no-reelection" demand of his Plan of Tuxtepec.^ The political views the father took up arms to support could not have escaped the young Flores

Diego Abad de SantillSn, Ricardo Flores Magon, El apostol de la revoluciSn social mexicana (Mexico: Grupo Cul­ tural "Ricardo Flores Mag6n," 1925), pp. 3-4; Florencio Barrera Fuentes, Historia de la revolucion mexicana, la etapa precursora (Mexico: Biblioteca del Institute Nacional de Es- tudios Histdricos de la Revolucion Mexicana, 1955), p. 27; Samuel Kaplan, Combatimos la tirania; "Conversaciones con Enrique Flores Magdn" (Mexico; Biblioteca del Institute Na­ cional de Estudios Histdricos de la Revolucion Mexicana, 1958), p. 17; Ethel Duffy Turner, Ricardo Flores Magdn y el Partido Liberal Mexicano (Morelia, Michoacan: Editorial "Erandi" del Gobierno del Estado, I960), pp. 14-15.

^Kaplan, Combatimos la tirania, pp. 9-25. Enrique Flores Magdn1s discussion of his father may properly be ques­ tioned when he claims considerable political sophistication for him. Nicolas T . Bernal told me he once questioned Ricardo about his parents and was told that Teodoro Flores had few political ideas and little to say at home. Margarita Magdn was clearly the dominent personality. 6

Magons. In addition, the simple life of the mestizos and In­ dians of Oaxaca, marked by elements of communal living, favor­ ably impressed Ricardo, especially when compared with the harsh, complex life of Mexico City. Owing to the efforts of his strong-willed mother, Ricardo witnessed life in the big city at an early age. Despite rather limited financial resources,

Margarita Mag6n was determined that her sons receive the best education possible. In Mexico this meant study in the nation's capital. Margarita enrolled her sons in Escuela Nacional Su­ perior No. 1^, and after completion there, in the Escuela

Nacional Preparatoria.^

During these early years of the Flores Magon brothers,

Porfirio Diaz was consolidating his control over Mexico. After the successful Tuxtepec revolt, he served in the presidency from 1876 to 1880. As a man who had so recently fought against

Juarez and Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada under a program of no . revolution, Diaz chose to step aside for Manuel Gonzalez in

1880. Under the pliable Gonz&lez, the constitution was alter­ ed to allow reelection; Diaz returned to office in 1884, not to relinquish the presidency until forced out in 1911. On 7*

Ricardo Flores Magon to an unnamed woman, July 9, 1933, in Ricardo Flores Mag6n, Epistolario revolucionario e Intimo (Mexico: Grupo Cultural "Ricardo Flores Magon," 1925), Vol. Ill, pp. 44-45. 7 Abad de Santilldn, Ricardo Flores Magon, p. 4; E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores Magdn, pp. 15-16. 7 the occasion of the second consecutive reelection of Diaz, in

1892, Ricardo Flores Magon began his lifetime of struggle, first against the Diaz dictatorship and later against all governments. All three Flores Magon brothers took part in the student-led demonstrations in May, 1892, against Diaz's elec­ tion. Jesds and Ricardo were arrested in this disturbance, the elder being sent to Mexico City's infamous BelSn prison, while 8 Ricardo was detained for a short time in a police jail.

Early the next year, Ricardo, as a member of a student group called Centro anti-reeleccionista, which had been instru­ mental in the demonstration in 1892, helped organize and edit a shortlived opposition newspaper, El Democrata. Through Judge

Juan Perez de Le6n, the government promptly suppressed the paper on a legal technicality.^ Thus ended Ricardo's first experience in political journalism, a talent he would later

develop and refine, much to Diaz's discomfort. When the

government suppressed El^ Democrata, Ricardo went into hiding

for a few months, working for a lawyer in Pachuca, in the state

of Hidalgo.After 1893, Ricardo fades from view for a 910

O Abad de Santill&n, Ricardo Flores Mag5n, p . 4r, Kaplan, Combatimos la tiranla, pp. 25-33; Turner, Ricardo Flores Magdn, p. 18. 9 Barrera Fuentes, Historia de la revolucion, p. 28.

10Kaplan, Combatimos da tiranla, pp, 19-21. 8 time in Mexican history. He attended the Escuela Nacional de

Jurisprudencia for some three years, but never completed his legal studies. Jesfis Flores Mag6n completed law school in the period, and Enrique also had some legal training. As

Teodoro Flores died in 1893, it is possible his sons had to devote increasing time to the support of themselves and their mother, who lived until 1901. In bad health, Margarita

Mag6n may have felt the strain of the dangerous political activities of her sons; this could have caused them to with­ draw from politics for a time. Numerous opposition periodi­ cals sprang up in the last years of the nineteenth century and were either suppressed or harassed by the Diaz govern­ ment, but there is no evidence that Ricardo took part in any of these activities .

During the '90s, Jestis apparently began to practice

law and Ricardo probably worked in legal offices. By the end of the century, the oldest Flores Magon brothers had ac­ cumulated enough money to embark on a new cause. Joining

Licenciado Antonio Horcasitas, they founded the periodical

Regeneracidn on August 7, 1900.* 12 All three founders listed themselves on the masthead as directors, with Ricardo also

^Turner, Ricardo Flores Magdn, pp. 19-21. 12 Barrera Fuentes, Historia de la revolucidn, p. 27, states that Lie. Eugenio L . Arnoux joined the Flores Magdns in creating and directing Regeneracion. If so, he was a very silent partner. See RegeneraciSn. Aug. 7, 1900. 9 serving as administrator. As the two lawyers had private prac­ tices, Ricardo probably did most of the editorial work. Re- generacibn carried the motto, peribdico juridico indenendiente. and concerned itself with the cause of justice. Combating bad administration of justice, the new paper would try to protect the legal rights of citizens. "We do not hope for the complete regeneration of the Judicial Power of the Republic. There are members of it who are irregenerable," the editors wrote in an early issue.* *3 Very quickly, Regeneracibn began taking up the issue of how Mexican judicial officials restricted the press, violating Article 7 of the Constitution of 1857. In the issue of September 7, 1900, a front-page article discussed these re­ strictions and government officials' hostile attitude toward the press. The next week the paper carried an examination of the legal rights of the Mexican press.Two weeks later it de­ voted nine of its sixteen pages to the case of the satirical op­ position journal, El_ Hijo del Ahuizote, in which the courts as­ sessed prison terms and fines to several staff members. Re- generacion argued that this was unconstitutional.*3

*3Ibid., Aug. 31, 1900.

*^Ibid., Sept. 7. and 15, 1900. The paper's masthead carried Article 7 in this period. "Lzi libertad de imprenta no ti- ene mas 1 imites que el respeto a la. vida privada, £ la moral y_ a la paz pGblica."

*5Ibid., Sept. 30, 1900. 10

Attacks on the administration of justice became, in fact, attacks on the regime of Diaz, since the judicial branch made up but part of the thorough rule of Don Porfirio. Soon the editors were criticizing other aspects of the Porfirian rule. Regeneracidn attacked the existence of slavery in the

Yucatan and the activities of slavers in Guaymas, Sonora, almost eight years before John Kenneth Turner shocked Ameri­ cans with his "Barbarous Mexico" articles in the American

Magazine♦^ Growing bolder each week, the editors began to mention Diaz by name. A favorite saying of the Diaz govern- . ment was that it was noted for "poca 'pblltica Y mucha ad- ministracidn." On the contrary, said Regeneracion. the

"Government of General Diaz has been distinguished for much politics and little administration." Further, about this

time, Regeneracion became solely a Flores Magdn venture;

Horcasitas resigned from the periodical on December 9,

1900.18

The increasingly political emphasis of the Flores

Magdns led to a change of slogans with issue No. 20 (De­

cember 31, 1900). The leading article announced the change

16Ibid., Nov. 15, 1900.

17Ibid., Dec. 7, 1900.

18Ibid., Dec. 15, 1900. 11 19 of Regeneraci6n to a peri6dico independiente de combate.

Actually, the change was not so great. The content of the journal remained the same, and the trend toward more direct attacks on the government continued. The revolutionary periodical that would continue to espouse the views of Ri­ cardo Flores Mag6n, first in Mexico and then in the United

States, increased in radical solutions only as its chief edi­ tor grew in radical ideas.

Meanwhile, another event occurred in August, 1900 which, together with the founding of Regeneracidn, marked the real origins of what might be called the Flores Mag6n movement in Mexico. On August 30, 1900, Ingeniero Camilo

Arriaga published the manifesto InvitaciGn al Partido Liberal in San Luis Potosl. The background of this invitation is in­ volved in a growing dissatisfaction among Mexican liberals with the way the government so obviously deviated from the

Constitution of 1857, ostensibly the law of the land. Pub­ lication in the San Luis Potosi clerical periodical, IU Es- tanderte, of an address by Bishop Ignacio Montes de Oca'to a Catholic congress in Paris brought much of this feeling to a head. The bishop told of increasing Catholic strength in 19

19 Ibid. Enrique Flores MagGn credits his mother with originating this slogan. "'jMagnifico!' grito Ricardo," according to his younger brother's account. See Kaplan, Combatimos la tirania. p. 48. 12

Mexico due to non-enforcement of the Mexican Constitution's anti-clerical provisions by the Diaz government. The religious peace came about, the bishop was reported as saying, "thanks to the wisdom and superior spirit of the wise man who has governed us in perfect peace, for more than twenty years." u

This open flaunting of the constitution incensed the zealous liberals of San Luis Potosi. Arriaga became the pri­ mary mover to organize this feeling that something should be done. Born in San Luis Potosi in 1862, he was a great-nephew of Ponciano Arriaga, one of the framers of the Constitution of

1857. Graduating from the Escuela Nacional de Ingenieros in

Mexico City in 1887, Camilo Arriaga returned to San Luis Potosi.

A man of considerable means, he served in the state legislature and then, from 1890 to 1898, was a deputy from that state in the national Chamber of Deputies. There his intense devotion to

Juarez liberalism resulted in difficulties as he joined other liberals in denouncing violations of the law of the Reforma which secularized the cemeteries. After this, Arriaga, among others, 21 was not returned to the Chamber. *21

Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revolucion, p. 29. Re- generacion also reported the speech by Montes de Oca. The Flores Mag6n paper said the authorities, not the Church, were responsible for this complacency in enforcing the Laws of the Reform. Re- generacibn, Sept. 15, 1900. 21 Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revolucion, pp. 33- 34; Manuel Ramirez Arriaga, "Camilo Arriaga," in Repertorio 13

Some two years later, ET Estandarte1s article again brought Arriaga to the defense of Mexican liberalism, now more zealously than before. The August 30, 1900 manifesto was signed by 126 residents of the city,headed by Arriaga. Among the signers were a number of army officers, engineers, law­ yers, doctors, and professors. The invitation, which Arriaga circulated throughout.the.nation,.told.of the bishop's speech in Paris and discussed .the. return.of-.clericalism to Mexico.

Arriaga called on.Mexican.liberals.to form local liberal clubs, which.were-then.to select.delegates-for a Liberal Con­ gress to meet , in .San-Luis-.Potosi.on. February 5, 1901, the an­ niversary of the Constitution-of 1857.-The Congress; accord­ ing to the manifesto, would take measures to form:a unified national Liberal Party, whose main goals would be to stop the spread of clericalism and uphold the.Laws of the Reform.^

The response to the manifesto illustrated the. wide­ spread devotion to the tenets of liberalism in Mexico; more than fifty clubes liberates were formed throughout the coun­ try by the end of January, 1901. Thirteen.states and the

Federal District had liberal clubs, over half of them in2 * de la Revolucion, No. 4 (Mexico: ..Ediciones. del Patronato de la Historia de Sonora, 1960), pp. 12-15; 2 2 Complete text of the invitation.is reprinted in Barrera Fuentes, ..Historia. de. la-revoluciSn^-pp. 29-33. 14 2 % the states of Hidalgo, San Luis Potosi, and Michoac^n. The convention drew fifty-six.delegates,-of whom.four were women, representing forty-nine liberal clubs and.four newspapers. The delegates included many professional people, but no military, despite the sizable.number of officers who had signed the invi­ tation. The four papers. represented,..all-.of-Mexico City, were

El Diario del Hogar,-El.Universal,.El.Monitor.Liberal, and Re- generacidn. All had published.. Arriaga Is -activities and thus facilitated the.growth.of-local.Liberal.organizations.^

El Diario del. Hogar ? s. editor ..was-Eilomeno-Mata, one • of the ablest men in the history.of-Mexican-journalism, who had carried on a vigorous struggle.for.liberty.in -his paper since 25 1881. Camilo Arriaga represented.this paper as well as his own Club Liberal Ponciano Arriaga of San.Luis.Potosi and the

Club Liberal of Ciudad Porfirio Diaz,-Coahuila,.at the con- vention. Lie. Diodoro Batalla. represented El_ Universal and El^ Monitor Liberal, as well as the Comitd Liberal de Estudiantes of San Luis Potosi. ...Flores.Magdn con- *242523

23Ibid., p. 39. 24 Delegates' list published.in-Regeneracion,.Feb. 23, 1901. 25 Mata suffered untold persecution.under.Diaz and continued an important.figure.throughout.the.Madero.revolt. See Luis J . Mata, . Eilomeno Mata, _su.vida_y_.su-labor. (Mexico: Secretaria de Educacion-PGblica,.Biblioteca.Enciclopedica Popular,.Hum..62,.1945).

2^No w .Piedras.Negras. 15

sidered Batalla "the best orator in the Republic.Another

delegate of note, primarily because he was to become Ricardo’s most devoted follower — with him to his last days -- was the mathematics professor, Librado Rivera, representing the Club

Benito Ju&rez of San NicolSs Tolentino, San Luis Potosi.

Flores Mag6n took an early interest in the proposed

convention and the growing liberal activity. Even at an

early date, however, he may have been thinking along the lines

of a more aggressive campaign against the Diaz dictatorship.

For some reason, it was not until the issue of Regeneracidn

of January 31, 1901, on the eve of the meeting, that Flores

Magon publicized the Congress itself. Perhaps this was due

to fears of government suppression of the Congress if it were

publicized too much. Regeneracidn assured its readers that

"The Liberal Congress is not a danger to the public tran­

quility, it is a danger to the machinations of the corrupt

clergy, as the police are dangerous to offenders." Another

possible reason that news of the Congress might have been

delayed was the fact that Ricardo himself did not really be­

come personally involved until late in January. In a letter2927 *

27 Regeneracidn, Feb. 23, 1901. 2 8 Ibid.. Oct. 23. Nov. 23, Nov. 30, and Dec. 23, 1900 .

29Ibid., Jan. 31, 1901. 16 dated January 22, 1901, the Comite Liberal de Estudiantes of

San Luis Potosi invited Ricardo to attend the Congress as a delegate of that group in recognition of his activities on be­ half of liberalism. He accepted this "grand honor" and also went as a delegate of his own paper.Antonio Diaz Soto y

Gama of San Luis Potosi was president of the Comite and also a delegate to the Congress.

The Congreso Liberal opened on the morning of Febru­ ary 5, 1901, in the Teatro de la Paz in San Luis Potosi, with Arriaga presiding. It lasted eight days. Through most of the sessions, speaker after speaker concentrated mainly on denouncing the clergy and calling for the enforcement of the anti-clerical provisions of the Laws of the Reform. Toward the close of the Congress> Flores Magon addressed the delegates.

He began by discussing the dangers of the increasing influence of the clergy, an old, but safe, subject by now. As he con­ tinued with his very detailed presentation, however, he cover­ ed other evil aspects of the Pdrfirian rule in Mexico. By the time he reached his conclusion, Ricardo was calling on the emerging party to oppose the government openly "because the administration of Diaz is a den of thieves." Despite the fact*

"^The letter of invitation from the Comite Liberal de Estudiantes, as well as Ricardo's reply, was printed in Regeneracion. Jan. 31, 1901. 17 that the Church was able to circumvent the Laws of the Reform, it was not the policy of the Diaz government to try to prevent attacks on the clergy. Officially Diaz considered his govern­ ment to be in the tradition of Benito Juarez and the mid- nineteenth century liberals; furthermore, attacks.on clerical­ ism gave a safe iiitlet to popular discontent. But to attack

Diaz openly and directly was positively dangerous. The as­ sembled delegates, no doubt fearful and shocked, hissed the radical statements of Flores Magon, who then repeated his closing phrase, "because the administration of Diaz is a den of thieves." More frightened hisses, and the young Mexican journalist repeated with emphasis, "yes gentlemen; because the administration of Diaz is a den of thieves." This resolute reiteration of what almost every delegate in attendance pro­ bably believed to be true finally gained some open support, and Flores Magdn won a smattering of applause as he con­ cluded.31

Arriaga was as frightened as anyone else by the unex­ pected developments of the Flores Magon speech. He was anxious to get Ricardo alone to caution him about his outspoken views. The potosino finally located Ricardo in the library of

31Quoted in Barrera Fuentes, Historia de. la. revolucidn, p . 53, from the Conference "Elogia y_ defensa de Juan Sarabia," dictated by Santiago de la Vega, and pyulished in Mdxico Nuevo» Nov. 22, 1932. 18 the Arriaga home, which had become something of a hotel for many of the delegates who had come for the Congress. Ricardo was holding a copy of the Constitution of 1857 when his host found him. Holding it up to Arriaga, Flores Mag6n said, "What a beautiful thing." Arriaga agreed, and then, reshelving the book, Flores Magdn said, "But it is a dead letter." The only way to restore it would be a revolution, Ricardo told the astounded liberal leader, who, in 1901, could not contemplate 32 the possibility of such a drastic course of action.

The fifty-one resolutions and three amendments adopted at the conclusion of the Congress certainly did not approach the vehement anti-government position of Flores Magdn. The resolutions called for the organization of the Liberal Party, propagation of liberal principles, developing means to combat

the political influence of the clergy, establishing means to

improve the administration of justice, proposals calling for

guarantees of the rights of citizens and the obtaining of real freedom of the press, and proposals favoring complete self-

government at the local level as the best means of educating

the people politically. The Club Liberal Ponciano Arriaga was named Centro Director del Partido Liberal for the first year. 32

32 Arriaga told this story to Nicol&s T. Bernal, who related it to me in Mexico City, June, 1965. 19

The local groups were asked to work for free secular education in the primary schools, to organize workers' societies to spread

liberal ideas among the lower classes, and. to establish Liberal propaganda organs. In the realm of clerical influence, resolu­ tions favored the restriction of the number of priests to one

*7 7 per 10,000 inhabitants and federal taxation of church income.

Flores Magon pointed out the great importance of the Congress

as a step forward in educating the Mexican people for democra-

cy.* 34 35 Regeneracion became something of an official organ for

the new Liberal Party in the weeks that followed the Congress.

On March 31, 1901, the Party's director issued a manifesto to

the nation which was published in the Flores Magon paper. This

manifesto also indicated that the new party would take more

aggressive action than the resolutions indicated to bring

about reform in Mexico. The manifesto condemned the cientifico

group of advisers which surrounded the president and urged

that the party work toward electing an authentic liberal to the 35 presidency. To this point, Porfirio Diaz, who had witnessed

"^Complete text of resolutions in Regeneracion, Feb. 28, 1901.

34Ibid., Feb. 23, 1901. 35 Text of manifesto published in Regeneracion, Mar. 31, 1901. 20 many moments of discontent in Mexico without losing strength, had not viewed the new Partido Liberal as a serious threat.

Now, how ever, the awesome repressive power of his government began to turn on the new movement.

Club Liberal Lampacense of Lampazos, Nuevo Leon, was

the first club to be suppressed by the government. This was

in the area under the control of General Bernardo Reyes, at

times governor of Nuevo Le6n, commander of the military dis­

trict in the north, and Minister of War. Antonio I. Villa­

rreal, another important person later in the Flores Mag6n movement, was affiliated with the Lampazos group. Other sup­ pressions, in the states of Hidalgo, Coahuila, Chiapas, and

Oaxaca, followed this initial action. The organization of

new clubs in other cities, however, more than offset these

losses as the liberal movement continued to gain strength.

One of these new clubs was the Asociacidn Liberal Reformista,

organized April 1, 1901, in the home of Diodoro Batalla in

Mexico City. Among the thirteen charter members were Jestis

and Ricardo Flores Magon. Batalla was president and Jestis

first secretary.^

The Flores Magon newspaper, Regeneracion, was also

reaching the point at which it could no longer be ignored by

^Barrera Fuentes, Historia de largy-oiucitin, pp. 73- 77; Regeneracitin, April 7 and April 15, 1901. 21 the dictator. On April 15, 1901, an appeal was addressed "To the President of the Republic" in which the Flores Magons called

for an end to the dictatorship. They stated that the opponents

of Diaz were not revolutionaries, as his friends and advisers 37 were telling him, but instead wanted only political liberties.

The paper regularly attacked the administration, including the

chief aspirants to power once Diaz left the scene — men like

the financial wizard, Jose Ives Limantour, and the Minister of

War, Bernardo Reyes. Reyes, particularly, was a favorite tar­

get; Ricardo said that Reyes in the presidency would imple- 38 ment a dictatorship worse than the present one. Lesser of­

ficials had always felt the sting of exposure and attack. One

such, Luis G. Cordoba, former jefe politico of Huajuapam de

Leon, Oaxaca, brought charges of defamation against the Flores

Magon brothers for an article about his administration. Re-

generacion had characterized Cordoba as arbitrary and despotic

and asserted that he had defrauded a resident of the area of

his land on the pretext of needing it for a road from Huajuapam _ 7Q to Tezoatlan.

Judge Wistano Velazquez ordered the arrest of the

Flores Mag6ns on May 23, 1901. Vel&zquez was quite familiar

with Regeneracion. having long been featured on its pages as

37Ibid., April 15, 1901.

38Ibid., March 23, 1901. 39 Ibid.t April 30, 1901. 22 one of the worst examples of the Mexican judicial system.

Ricardo claimed authorship of the offending article and urged that Jesds should be released. Both brothers were imprisoned in Belen prison without a trial and held there until April 30,

1902. But Regeneracion continued to be published, for the

Flores Mag6ns were able to write articles from prison. In the

June 7, 1901, issue, an article pointed out the illegality of the fact that Cordoba had not brought the charges himself, and therefore Velazquez violated the Constitution by imprisoning the Flores Magons. The same issue attacked the closing of

Filomeno Mata's El Diario del Hogar because its presses, which printed Regeneracion, had printed the offending issue. The

Flores Magdns wrote extensively on the whole subject of the persecution of the press in the twenty-five years that Diaz held sway over Mexico.

Margarita Magon died on June 14, 1901, while her two oldest sons were in Belen. Shortly before her death, the government reportedly approached her and offered to free her sons during her last days if she could prevail upon them to halt their attacks on the government. Senora Mag6n made it clear that she would prefer to die without seeing her sons again rather than see them abandon their struggle.

^Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revolucion, pp.77- 83; Regeneracidn. May 23, May 31, June 7, and June 15, 1901.

^Kaplan, Combatimos la tirania, pp. 55-57; Turner, Ricardo Flores Magon, pp. 38-39. 23

After the closing of the presses of El'Diario del

Hogar, Camilo Arriaga arranged for the publication of Regen­ eration in San Luis Potosi, whence it could be distributed throughout the nation. The Flores Magdns had no intention of abandoning their struggle. In the issue dated June 23, 1901, and published sometime in July, clericalism and militarism, and the suppression of the Liberal clubs all came under heavy attack. Discussing their own case, Jesfis and Ricardo announced that the able liberal lawyer Francisco Serralde had joined

Lie. Eugenio L. Arn’oux in their defense. Velazquez was again taken to task for his dictatorial methods and for his alleged constitutional violations and general ignorance. For four months after the arrest of the editors, Regeneracion contin­ ued to appear. Then economic difficulties, plus the discovery by the police of the location of the presses, forced the abandonment of the paper near the end of September, 1901.

This marked the close of the first era of the much-persecuted paper that has come to be identified with the career of Ricardo Flores Magon.^2

The Diaz regime continued its attack on the Liberal movement even after the imprisonment of the Flores Magdns. On

July 18, 1901, Antonio Diaz Soto y Gama, a leading figure in

^2Ibid., p. 38; Regeneracidn. June 23, 1901. 24 the San Luis Potosl Liberal group, addressed the Club Liberal

JesGs Gonzalez Ortega in Pinos, Zacatecas, at a ceremony com­ memorating the death of Benito Juarez. The young potosino was arrested and sentenced to four months in Helen for in­ sults to the President of the Republic and the Minister of

War.^ The dictator praised his leader of former days on of­ ficial occasions, but apparently felt the ideas of the un­ yielding liberal JuSrez should not be too freely bandied about in Mexico of 1901. Thus, "our country suffers the most brutal of despotisms," said Regeneracion in the issue dated

August 7, 1901, the first anniversary of its founding.^

The next major move on the part of the government was not against individual Liberal Party members but against the

Party itself. On November 4, 1901, Club Liberal Ponciano Arri­ aga sent out a call for the second Congreso Liberal to meet in

San Luis Potosl on February 5, 1902. The proposed agenda il­ lustrated how far the Partido Liberal had come as an opposition party in a year's time. In addition to the expected subject of the enforcement of the Laws of the Reform, the proposed sub­ jects included the need for freedom of the press, freedom of suffrage, organization of free municipalities with the suppres- *7

43 • • • . . ... Barrera Puentes, Historia de la^ revolucion, pp. 84- 90; Turner, Ricardo Flores Magdn. p. 39; Regeneracion, July 7, 1901; complete text of speech published in Regeneracion, Aug. 31, 1901. A A ' - Regeneracidn, Atig1 7, 1901. 25 sion of jefes politicos, and measures-to.improve the lot of rural workers on the large.estates.The-Congress.never met. At a regular meeting of the:Arriaga club.on January 24, 1902, a re­ vista deputy, Heriberto.Barr&n,.provoked.a-disturbance which re­ sulted in the dissolution of the.Centro.Director by the authori­ ties. Arriaga, Juan Sarabia, and.Librado Rivera,• leading mem­ bers of the club, were.jailed..A.manifesto.dated-January 28,

1902, giving the Liberals'.version.of the.suppression of the second Congress was smuggled out of.jail,published, and dis­ tributed over the nation.^ In.another..manifesto, dated February

26, 1902, Arriaga named the. Club.Patri6tico-Liberal.-MeIchor

Ocampo, Puebla, as the.new.Centro-Director.^

By the time the.Flores Magon.brothers.obtained their freedom on April 30, the.repressive.action^of the.government had taken its toll on the disheartened.Jesfis,.who now.left the 4 8 movement. Undaunted, Ricardo.returned.to.political.agita­ tion at once, now with younger.brother Enrique,at his side.

Lacking the resources to found another.paper,.Ricardo took over the existing El.Hijo del Ahuizote,.a.journal best known for its satirical political.cartoons.... The48

^Barrera Puentes, Historia.de.la-revolucion, p. 97.

^ I b i d . , pp.-101—108,.from.Archive.of.Antonio Diaz Soto y Gama; see.also.Turnerr.Ricardo.Elores^Magon, pp.-41-43. A 7 - - - .El. Hi jo. del. Ahuizote,. Aug.. 10r- 1902. 48 ...Abad-de. Santil&n, - Ricardo. Elores-Magon, .-p.. 7. Jesds 26 founder and guiding spirit of this periodical was the ill and aging Daniel Cabrera, who was happy to turn the paper over to younger hands. The director was Nestor GonzSlez. El_ Hijo del

Ahuizote remained under the direction of Cabrera and GonzSlez in name, but with the issue of July 16, 1902, the two younger

Flores Ma.g6n brothers, together with Evaristo Guillen and

Federico PSrez Fern&ndez, controlled the content. On August

10, 1902, an article signed Escorpion appeared for the first time; this was to be the pseudonym of Ricardo Flores Mag6n throughout the life of the paper.^ The principal target of the new management was General Reyes. In 1902, it appeared that Reyes might be the leading candidate to replace the old dictator in the election of 1904. With this possibility in mind, E_1 Hijo del Ahuizote viciously attacked the creation by the Minister of War of the Second Military Reserve, contending that this organization, under the direct control of Reyes, f • " ■ ; would be used as a strong-armed propaganda device in the next election.

The answer to the attacks on Reyes came, as might have been expected, from the military. On September 12, 1902, a resumed his law.practice and became one of .the leading liberal lawyers. _ ' ‘ ‘ ‘ ’ 4Q El Hijo del Ahuizote, Aug. 10, 1902.

^Reyes was constantly featured in cartoons of El^ Hijo del Ahuizote. often with Bishop Ignacio Montes de Oca and Heriberto Barr6n, two other old liberal foes. Barrdn's name was generally spelled Burron and he was usually pictured as a burro, sometimes with the other two on his back. 27 military judge, Telesforo Ocampo, ordered the arrest of the

Flores Magons, Perez Fern&ndez, and Guillen. They were taken to the military prison at Santiago Tlaltelolco, and held in­ communicado for thirty-four days. In addition, Cabrera was arrested and confined in a military hospital, despite his ex­ oneration by Ricardo of any responsibility for the content of

El Hijo del Ahuizote. The Mexican Supreme Court of Justice ordered the release of Cabrera after a confinement of about a month and a half. Military restrictions on the press had now been added as a new ingredient to the troubled Mexican politi­ cal. scene, although the skillful lawyer, Francisco Serralde, obtained the transfer of the editors to a civil jail, where C 1 they were held until January 13, 1903.

Meantime, Juan Sarabia gained his freedom in San Luis

PotosI and went to Mexico City, taking over direction of El

Hijo del Ahuizote when it returned to print in November, 1902.

Sarabia brilliantly publicized the arbitrary imprisonment of 5 2 the former editors and the treatment of the elderly Cabrera.

Also, just before the release of the Flores Magons, Arriaga was freed from jail on January 10, 1903, and he, too, went to the capital. Other leading Liberals were gathering in Mexico *52

** *E1 Hi j o del Ahuizote, Nov. 23, 1902; Turner, Ricardo Flores Mag3n, pp. 47-50.

52E1 Hijo del Ahuizote, Nov. 23, 1902. 28

City. Santiago de la Hoz, founder of the Club Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada in Veracruz, arrived in 1902 for legal studies. He wrote for E_1 Hijo del Ahuizote under the pseudonym E_1 Hombre

Gris. De la Hoz also organized in Mexico City the Club Rer- dencion and founded the periodical Excelsior, both committed to an anti-reelection program -- the first organized under

Diaz. This created some difficulties with Arriaga, who felt the Liberals should not commit themselves to such a program because it would hurt their chances of gaining reforms under the existing government. The differences were soon resolved, and most of the Liberals in Mexico City, including Flores

Mag6n, also belonged to the Club Redencion. Limited funds made Excelsior a small and irregular journal, but E% Hijo del

Ahuizote also presented a forum for the ideas of the capable 5 3 young De la Hoz.

Arriaga attempted to regroup his forces for a more positive program by reorganizing the Club Liberal Ponciano

Arriaga in the capital on February 5, 1903. He was presi­ dent, Diaz Soto y Gama, vice-president, and first through fourth secretaries were Juan Sarabia, Ricardo Flores Mag6n,

Santiago de la Hoz, and Enrique Flores Mag6n. The direction of this regenerated organization differed considerably from the days when clericalism was the major issue. Enforcement

^ Ibid., Mar. 22, 1903; Barrera Fuentes, Historia de la revolution, p . 115. 29 of the Laws of the Reform could no longer be the issue if, as

El Hijo del Ahuizote said on February 8, 1903, "La Constitucidn ha muerto."^ Also, the thinking of the movement’s leader­ ship was turning increasingly from political to social prob­ lems. A manifesto dated February 27, 1903, illustrated this trend. The Liberal Party demanded Reforma, Uni6ny Libertad; it was now concerned with the Mexican proletariat, the plight of the rural workers, the pervasive influence of monopolies, the concentration of land in the hands of a few, the poor edu­ cation of the people, and the lack of any real freedom of thought and expression. The Liberals were moving toward revo­ lution.^^

Little time was wasted in fighting the reorganized op­ position. On the night of April 16, 1903, under orders from

Judge Gonzalo Espinosa, police officials invaded the office of* 15

El Hijo del Ahuizote, Feb. 8, 1903. On February 5, 1903, the anniversary of the Constitution of 1857, the outside of the office of the paper in Mexico City was decorated with a banner draped in black and proclaiming that "La ConstituciSn Ha Muerto." Above the banner was a portrait of Benito Ju&rez. Windows flanked the banner and a very famous picture of this display was printed on the cover of E_1 Hijo del Ahuizote, Feb. 15, 1903. In the left window were Federico PSrez Fernandez, Santiago de la Hoz, Manuel Sarabia, Benjamin Millefn, Evaristo GuillSn, and Gabriel Perez Fernandez. In the window on the right were Juan Sarabia, Antonio Diaz Soto y Gama, Rosalio Bustamante, TomSs Sarabia, and Ricardo and Enrique Flores Mag6n. It was a bold display of opposition to the Diaz government,

55Ibid., Mar. 1, 1903. 30

El Hijo del Ahuizote and arrested everyone in sight, including a number of workers in the print shop. Among the editors ar­ rested and charged with abusing public officials in their du­ ties were the Flores Mag6n brothers, the cousins Juan and

Manuel Sarabia, and Librado Rivera. The next day, all were taken to BelSn, where they were held incommunicado for a month and a half. Survivors of the raid tried to keep the paper going despite the authorities, and several different presses throughout the city were used in the attempt to avoid suppres­ sion. The name changed often and such successors to El Hijo de 1 Ahuizote as E_1 Padre de 1 Ahuizote, El Nieto del Ahuizote, and E_1 Bisnieto del Ahuizote appeared in the Mexican capital.

It was all to no avail. The presses were eventually

shut down, and the crowning blow came from the courts of Mex­

ico City on June 9, 1903, when they prohibited the circulation

of any periodical carrying anything written by the Flores

Magons. The Supreme Court of Justice ratified this decision, which called for two years’ imprisonment, a fine of 5,000 r 7 pesos, and the confiscation of the presses of any violators.

^Norberto Aguirre, Ricardo Flores Mag6n, sintesis biogr&fica [Mexico: Ediciones de la Sociedad Agrondmica Mexi- cana, 1964), p. 13; Turner, Ricardo Flores Magon, pp. 59-60.

Aguirre, Ricardo Flores Mag6n, p. 13; Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revolution, pp. 145-146. 31

In the dungeons of BelSn, the outlook for the future for Flores

Mag6n was not encouraging. Years.later, going blind in Leaven­ worth Penitentiary, Ricardo recalled the horrors of BelSn in a letter to his attorney:

. . . Once when I was young I was kept for several weeks in a dark dungeon, so dark that I could not see my own hands. It was in the City of Mexico during that harrowing period in which Diaz swayed with a bloody hand. The dungeon was unpaved, and a layer of mud from three to four inches com­ posed the floor, while the walls oozed a turbid fluid which prevented from drying up the expectorations, count­ less, careless, former occupants had negligently flung upon them. From the ceiling enormous cobwebs overhung, in which huge, black, horrid spiders lurked. In one corner, opening from the sewer there was a hole .... This was one of the dungeons into which the despot used to throw his op­ ponents in the hope of breaking their spirits . . . chambers, so shrewdly calculated to crush, to pound, to maim the most powerful will. . . . In my horrible dwelling I could stand the slimy touch of the walls, the recollection of which makes me now shudder, my lungs then youthful and healthy could resist the poison of that grave, my nerves, though sensitive, could be trained by my will to respond with nothing more than a slight tremor to the assaults and bitings of the rats in the dark. . . . My mat was wet, and so were my clothes, from time to time a thud on the mat, or on the slime, and soon on my body, indicated that a spider had fallen down and through my frame ran a shudder. But I could suffer all that excepting the absence of light. I need light. I need light. . . .58

When Flores Magon was released from prison in October, 1903, deprived by the court of his means of livelihood, he faced the choice of giving up the struggle, continuing it and facing probable death in Mexico, or continuing it from exile.

The choice was exile. Ricardo and Enrique left Mexico 5

5 8 Quoted by Harry Weinberger in a letter to The New Republic. Vol. XXVI, No. 396 (July 5, 1922), p. 162. 32

City near the end of December, 1903, and on January 3, 1904, they crossed the Rio Grande into the United States at Laredo,

Texas. In the United States, Ricardo believed, he would find that light he needed. Ricardo Flores Mag6n would never return

alive to Mexico, but his greatest struggles, his greatest suc­

cesses, and his greatest frustrations as a Mexican revolution­

ary leader lay ahead of him. CHAPTER II

"INFLAMING MEXICANS TO NOBLE INDIGNATION"

". . . I venture to suggest that if these men could be dealt with as such men should be, the President would feel a deep gratitude." --David E . Thompson1

The Partido Liberal Mexicano, once its chief leaders left Mexico, did not make an auspicious debut in the United

States in its campaign to effect political change in Mexico.

For one thing, Ricardo and Enrique Flores Mag6n reached La­ redo, Texas, in early 1904, virtually penniless, as were the other Liberals who either accompanied them or joined them soon after their arrival. Among these were Santiago de la Hoz and '7 - ; . - , '' ' Juan and Manuel Sarabia. Most of these men lived by their pens; the need to reestablish a periodical for disseminating their propaganda throughout Mexico was felt immediately. Re-

generacidn had to be regenerated. Taking up the battle on

foreign soil proved to be difficult, however, and it was

some months before a paper could be established and the 12

1 David E. Thompson, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, to U.S. Dept, of State, June 19, 1906, General Records. U.S. Department of State, Record Group 59, National Archives, Washington (here­ after cited as Dept, of State, Rec. Grp. 59, NA), Despatches from U.S. Ministers to Mexico, 1823-1906, Vol. 183. 2 Barrera Fuentes, Historia de la revoluci6n, p . 147; Kaplan, Combatimos la tirania, pp. 123-130.

33 34 party reorganized. But within two years the Liberals made great strides, advancing from a motley handful of refugees to the point at which they believed the Mexican nation ready to follow them in a revolution against Porfirio Diaz.

The Liberal cause suffered a severe loss very shortly after moving to the United States. Near the end of March, 1904,

De la Hoz, a brilliant and fiery young writer, drowned in the

Rio Grande. Apparently he had gone to bathe in the river accompanied by Enrique Flores Mag6n. The exact circumstances of his death are not clear, but Juanita Gutierrez, a member of the Laredo Liberal group, contended the Flores Mag6ns had killed him. She even went to Mexico City to make these charges before the Liberals there.^ Little credence was given the accusations as they seem to have been forgotten rather quickly. At this very time Ricardo and Juan Sarabia were enlisting financial aid from Liberals in Mexico to get

Regeneracion publishing again. Their success would indicate43

3E1 Colmillo Pftblico, Apr. 3, 1904. 4 Turner, Ricardo Flores Mag6nt pp. 65-66. Enrique Flores Magon never mentions Santiago de la Hoz in his account. Many years passed, before he told his story, but it seems odd he would forget De la Hoz, who, despite his short career, achieved a secure and honored position in the history of opposition to Diaz. See esp. Kaplan, Combatimos la tiranla, pp. 123-130, for the most obvious evidence of this oversight. Later, in early 1905 when Ricardo was having trouble with the St. Louis, Missouri, authorities, Juanita Gutierrez made further charges, accusing him of being sympathetic to, of all people, Bernardo Reyes. These accusations, too, were refuted or ignored. See El^ Colmi­ llo PGblico, Apr. 1, Apr. 8, and Apr. 15, 1905. 35 they retained wide support in the Republic.

The Liberals appealed to former subscribers of both

Regeneracion and E% Hijo del Ahuizote for funds and within a few months they had sufficient capital to begin operations in

Texas. As the emigres found themselves constantly under the surveillance of Mexican government agents in Laredo, and be­ cause of a scarcity of printing facilities there, they decided not to establish the paper in the border city, but in San

Antonio, another Texas city with a heavy Mexican atmosphere.

Manuel Sarabia, skillful in the printer’s art, and Rafael

Romero Palacios, a Liberal adherent who knew the city, were sent to San Antonio with $800 to find suitable facilities and to print the first Texas issue of the paper. Two weeks later the group in Laredo received the unhappy news from Sarabia that Romero Palacios had spent the entire $800 on a house for a female friend.^ The disgusted exiles turned again to the task of raising funds.

Camilo Arriaga also went to Texas sometime before the first issue of Regeneracion was published in San Antonio on

November 5, 1904, and was to join the Liberals in their flight in Laredo. Arriaga extended financial aid to help reestablish the paper, but could not carry the whole load. Four years of

^Kaplan, Combatimos la tirania, pp. 130-131. Romero Palacios disappears after this until 1911, when, in Los Angeles, he stepped in for a time to handle much of the editorial work for Regeneracion after arrests and defections sadly depleted the editorial staff. 36

leadership of the Liberals had made heavy inroads on his per­ sonal fortune. That leadership, however, made him a most va­

luable man in contacting other Liberals in Mexico for financial assistance.^ Another source of support for the Regeneracion group came from a new periodical in Mexico City, El Colmillo

Pfiblico. Jesfis Martinez Carrion, a famous Mexican cartoonist and artist, directed this journal. Federico PSrez Fernandez was the administrator and he began the paper with only $300 capital. Very similar in make-up to El^ Hijo del Ahuizote, El

Colmillo Pfiblico was a worthy successor to that opposition journal. If anything, the cartoons were even more vicious in criticizing the government. Many former staff members of El

Hijo del Ahuizote, besides Perez Fernandez, joined this paper

after they left Helen prison.^

Thus Ricardo Flores Mag6n began the second epoch of

Regeneracion. He was the director, and Juan Sarabia was chief

of the editorial staff. In the first issue published in the

United States, the editors greeted their old readers with the

Barrera Fuentes, Historia de la revoluciGn, p . 151; Ramirez Arriaga, "Camilo Arriaga," p. 21. See especially the circular letter dated Feb. 11, 1904, from Laredo, Texas, ex­ plaining the Liberals' plight and asking for help, in Manuel Gonz&lez Ramirez, ed., Espitolario y_ textos de Ricardo Flores Magon (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1964), pp. 55-56. The letter was signed by Camilo Arriaga, R. Flores Mag6n, Santiago de la Hoz, Juan Sarabia, and E. Flores Magon, in that order. _ 'See El^ Colmillo Pfiblico for the years 1904-1906; also see Mexico City's E_1 Demdcrata, Sept. 3, 1924, for a lengthy interview with Perez Fern&ndez in which he discusses his work as an opposition journalist. 37 hope it would be received as the "greeting of an old friend."

They went on to explain their presence in San Antonio, saying,

"Tyranny has run us out of our own country forcing us to seek for liberty in a foreign land." They traced the history of the Liberal movement from its inception. The article listed

Liberal newspapers suppressed throughout the country to illus­ trate government persecution of the press, and also cited examples of other persecutions of the Liberal movement. After the explanation of their presence in the United States, the editors of Regeneracion stated: "Our program is the same We have always followed. We shall attack General Diaz, as the man who is directly responsible for the misfortunes of the

Mexican people and because he represents the most hateful, bloody, and fatal tyranny that has ever been experienced by 8 our country." The editors also felt that a new threat for the future had been added with the election of Ramdn Corral, former governor of Sonora, to fill the newly-created office of vice-president. "Corral has reached the Vice-presidency, to the general disgust of the Nation. . . ." The Liberals felt this meant only that Porfirian rule would continue even after Diaz, and "To follow the policy of General Diaz means 8

8 From an article in Regeneracidn, Nov. 5, 1904, re­ printed in Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revolucidn, pp. 151-157. " ~ " 38 to follow a policy of terror, persecution and crime. . .

Regeneracidn reached old enemies as well as old friends as Liberal sympathizers circulated it clandestinely through

Mexico. With the paper out of reach of the government courts,

Diaz had to employ other means to silence the voice of opposi­ tion. In December, a man said to be a Mexican government agent invaded the Flores Magdns' combination home and office, at­ tempting to stab Ricardo. Only Enrique's quick intervention saved his brother's life; he wrestled the would-be assassin out of the house and into the street. Enrique was arrested for disturbing the peace, jailed, and fined. Ricardo tried to press charges against the attacker, but the police would not 10 hold him. That the Mexican government was well aware of the brothers' presence in San Antonio is evidenced by a report on the movement by United States Ambassador to Mexico, David E . 109

9 From an article in Regeneracidn, Nov. 12, 1904, in Dept, of State, Rec. Grp. 59, NA, Despatches, Vol. 183. The Liberal opinion of the election of Corral was well illustrated by a cartoon in El Colmillo Pfiblico, June 19, 1904, depicting Diaz as John the Baptist baptizing Corral as vice-president. They stand in a river labeled Porfirismo. A ray of light from a dove, labeled dictatorship, falls on Corral. Many of the car­ toons in both El_ Hi jo del Ahuizote and EL Colmillo Pfiblico are parodies of Biblical or other religious themes. 10 R. Flores Mag6n to Weinberger, May 9, 1921, in Flores Magon, Epistolario revolucionario. III, pp. 68-79; Abad de San- tillcin, Ricardo Flores Mag6n, p. 14; Kaplan, Combatimos la ti- ranla, pp. 135-139; Turner, Ricardo Flores Mag6n, pp. 67-68. Enrique said the assassination attempt was made on Manuel Sarabia, not Ricardo, and puts the fine at $75 plus court costs; Turner says the fine was $30. 39

Thompson, in 1906. He wrote his report after talking with

Diaz and gave this version of the San Antonio incident:

There the editors of "Regeneracion" had some trouble with the local authorities, due to the quarrels they frequently had with Mexican residents of the City who, having remained loyal to their country and government, naturally resented the offensive manner in which said journal treated all matters affecting the administra­ tion of Mexico.11

After the episode in San Antonio, Ricardo may well have wondered if perhaps Diaz had failed to recognize the annexation of Texas. In any event, this illustration of the influence of the Mexican dictator led to a decision by the

Flores Mag6n group that their activities might be more ef­ fective -- and their lives less in danger -- if they moved farther away from the Mexican border. They decided on St.

Louis, Missouri. Arriaga, the financial "angel" of so many

Liberal activities, could not finance this move alone. He was, however, able to obtain a loan of $2,000 for this pur­ pose from a friend, Francisco I. Madero, who by now was be- coming a mildly active critic of the government. Madero, a leading figure in the Partido Democratico in Coahuila, wrote Flores Magdn in January, 1905, that his group sympa­ thized with the ideals of the Liberals. He submitted sub- 1112

11 Thompson to Dept, of State, June 19, 1906, Dept, of State, Rec. Grp. 59, NA, Despatches, Vol. 183. 12 Ramirez Arriaga, "Camilo Arriaga," p. 21; Ross, Francisco I_. Madero, p . 42; Turner, Ricardo Florea Magdn, pp. 69-70. 40 scription orders for Regeneracion, together with additional donations from himself and a few others, stating his belief that the paper would help bring the "Regeneration of the

Fatherland, inflaming Mexicans to noble indignation against 13 their tyrants." In March, Ricardo credited Madero with saving the Liberal movement.^ Soon Madero would disavow the

Liberals in St. Louis because he felt they were trying to go too far too fast. He felt their course of action might even lead to revolution.

The trek northward came in early 1905 with Regenera- cion appearing there for the first time on February 25,

1905.^ Arriaga accompanied the Flores Magons and the Sarabias to St. Louis.^ There they were joined by other exiles from

Porfirian Mexico, including Librado Rivera, Antonio I. Villa­ rreal, and Rosalio Bustamante. All of these men had been early adherents of Arriaga's 1900 call for the establishment of *1613

13 Francisco I. Madero to R. Flores Magon, Jan. 17, 1905, in Archive de Don Francisco I. Madero, No. 2, Episto- lario (1900-1909) , Edicion establecida por Agustin Yahez y Catalina Sierra (Mexico: Ediciones de la Secretaria de Hacien­ da, 1963), pp. 109-110.

^Ross, Francisco I. Madero, pp. 43-43, 43n, cites a letter from Flores Magon to Madero, Mar. 5, 1905.

^Barrera Fuentes, Historia de la revolution, p. 158. Regeneracidn continued to be published in San Antonio until the Liberals left that city, probably in February, 1905 . See El Colmillo Pfiblico, Jan. 16, 1905. 16 Ramirez Arriaga, "Camilo Arriaga," p. 21. 41

Liberal clubs and the Liberal Party. With the exception of

Villarreal, all had been active in Mexico City with E_1 Hijo del Ahuizote in 1903. Villarreal had been a member of the

Liberal Club in Lampazos, Nuevo Leon, the first one suppressed by the government, and he rapidly established himself as one of the leading members of the circle in St. Louis. He was one of the most active contributors to Regeneracibn, along with Ricardo and Juan Sarabia. Arriaga remained in St. Louis but a short while longer, and neither he nor any of the other

Liberals in that city were very active writers.

At this stage in the development of the Liberal opposi­ tion to the dictatorship it would be difficult to label any member of the group as to political philosophy. Although the direction of the opposition to Diaz was moving toward a more radical position, nothing the Liberals had advocated could be construed as much more than a strong belief in Judrez liberal­ ism. Certainly there had been no hint of the doctrinaire anarchism Ricard Flores Magon would one day unswervingly up­ hold. Before 1900, Ricardo must have read extensively in the works of the better-known European revolutionaries. Also it has been suggested that Ricardo benefited from the extensive library owned by Arriaga, which contained the works of Bakunin, 17

17 Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revoluci6n, pp. 158-159. 42

Marx, Kropotkin, and others. Then, when Arriaga came to Mexico

City in 1902, he brought much of this literature with him, re­ sulting in the later assertion that he spread anarchist ideas 1R among the Liberals. This is most unlikely. Flores Mag6n was in San Luis PotosI in 1901 for probably not more than eight days -- not much time for extensive reading in the Arriaga library. The Liberals in Mexico City in 1902 and 1903, when they were not in jail, must have read considerably and ex­ changed ideas with or without Arriaga. It is most doubtful, based on what is known of his career, that Arriaga tried to propagate anarchist viewpoints.

What is probably true is that the anarchist writings impressed the young Mexican revolutionaries. Along with

Ricardo and Arriaga, the most serious students were Santiago de la Hoz, Juan Sarabia, Santiago R. de la Vega, and Antonio

Diaz Soto y Gama. This is the recollection of Diaz Soto y

Gama, who told Ethel D. Turner that in the early years of the twentieth century, referring to this group, "All of us were completely anarchists."18 19 20 Yet, in the summer of 1901, Flores

Magon expressed the fear that if Bernardo Reyes ever came to power in Mexico he would cause the country to fall into com- 20 plete anarchy. With the exception of Flores Mag6n, and

18 Ibid., p. 116; Turner, Ricardo Flores Mag6n, pp. 22-23.

19Ibid., p. 22. 20 Regeneracion, July 23, 1901. 43

possibly Diaz Soto y Gama in his later work with Emiliano Za­ pata, none of the individuals called "anarchists" at this time

ever publicly supported an anarchist position.

That a return to,the liberalism of Benito JuErez would

not be the solution to the problems of Mexico was perhaps be­

coming evident to the Liberals in these years. In 1905, San­

tiago R. de la Vega began publishing a periodical. La Humanidad,

in San Antonio, which illustrated this changing view. Gener­

ously supported by Arriaga, this journal was socialist in out­

look and was the first opposition periodical to give its em-

phasis solely to the problems of the working class. Although

not known at this time, this was actually the first step in

the divergence of opinion that would one day split the Liberal

cause and wreck the hopes of Flores Magon.

Probably the most that could be said about the views of

Ricardo Flores Mag6n in 1905 was that he was moving from li­

beralism to an acceptance of anarchism; and in this shift of

convictions, he was taking Brother Enrique and Librado Rivera

with him. In St. Louis, this tendency was strengthened by

contacts he made outside the Liberal group, such as a meeting

with Emma Goldman, the most famous anarchist in the United 21

21 El Colmillo PGblico, Aug. 13, 1905; Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revolucidn, p. 157. Nicolas T. Bernal told me that De la Vega later related to him that he consulted Ricardo before he began La Humanidad, and then undertook this activity only after he was certain Flores Magon did not object. 44

States. Certainly more important, as Ricardo was not fluent in English at this time, a Spanish anarchist, Florencio Bazora, established a close relationship with the Mexican exile.

Bazora even helped sell Regeneracion and solicited donations 2 2 for the Liberal cause. Despite these tendencies, it would be some time before Ricardo made clear his anarchist views.

Whether liberal, socialist, or anarchist, the exiles were agreed on the problem of the moment: How to oust Por- firio Diaz? On September 28, 1905, they formed the Junta

Organizadora del Partido Liberal Mexicano as a significant step toward that key objective. Ricardo was president; Juan

Sarabia, vice-president; Villarreal, secretary; Enrique, treasurer; and Manuel Sarabia, Bustamante, and Rivera were vocales, an executive board position without specifically designated duties. Regeneracion announced the establishment of this organizing Junta to its 20,000 subscribers, stating the junta was the first step in creating a nationwide party in Mexico, whose main purpose would be to fight "con todos los medios" to overthrow the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz.

Moreover, the editors urged sympathizers in Mexico to form secret groups in every city, establish relations with the 22

22Librado Rivera, Prologo to Abad de SantillSn, Ricardo Flores Magdn, p . x; Turner, Ricardo Flores Magdn, p. 73. 45

Junta, and prepare to help bring down the "Tuxtepecan dicta­

torship."^^

The government of the dictator, which would move a-

gainst the St. Louis Liberals in the very near future, con­

tinued to bring pressure on the Liberals in Mexico. The

director of E^L Colmillo Pfiblico, Martinez Carrion, was ar­

rested on March 29, 1905, and held three days before the

"able attorney Lie. Jesfis Flores Mag6n" was able to secure

his release.Other Liberals fled the country to escape

persecution. E_1 Colmillo PGblico noted that "Enrique Ber­

mudez, Antonio de P. Araujo, and Jose Lopez, who were bru­

tally persecuted in Cananea (Sonora) for the grave crime (??)

[sic] of being agents of Regeneracion" had begun to publish

in Douglas, Arizona, an independent Liberal newspaper called 25 El Azote. El Colmillo Publico also continued to urge its

readers to read Regeneracion. In the fall of 1905, the Mexi­

can satirical journal received a great number of letters

from all over the Republic inquiring about the sudden irregu­

larity of the publication of Regeneracion. El Colmillo Pfib-

lico replied that it was not an agent of the St. Louis paper, 252324

23 Abad de SantillSn, Ricardo Flores Mag6n, p . 14; Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revolucion, pp. 159-160; Turner, Ricardo Flores Mag6n, p. 75. 24 El Colmillo PGblico, Apr. 2 and Apr. 9, 1905. 25 Ibid., Apr. 9, 1905. Araujo later became one of the more important individuals in the Flores Magon movement. 46 but that Regeneraci6n had always been punctual until late in

September, when its circulation in Mexico was prohibited "just

as Mexico prohibited the manifestation of all ideas of liberty

and all principles of justice.

The influence of Regeneracidn in Mexico was such that it brought on an attempt to suppress the paper once again.

In early October, 1905, Manuel Esperdn y de la Flor, a jefe politico from a district in Oaxaca, and his wife went to St.

Louis to charge the editors of Regeneracion with defamation

and libel. The paper had attacked him for his extreme cruel­

ty, intimating also that he owed his governmental position to

favors his attractive wife had bestowed on the governor of 27 the state. Acting on these charges, three St. Louis city

detectives and two agents of the Pinkerton Detective Agency ar­

rested the Flores Magon brothers and Juan Sarabia on October

12, 1905. In addition, they closed the offices of the paper,

confiscated and sold every piece of property owned by the 28 group. The Mexican government wanted to extradite the 282627

26Ibid., Oct. 1, 1905. 27 Kaplan, Combatimos la tirania, pp. 145-146; Turner, Ricardo Flores Mag$n, p. 76. 28 Abad de Santillan, Ricardo Flores Magon, pp. 15- 16; Eugenio Martinez Ndfiez, La Vida Heroica de Piaxedis G. Guerrero (Mexico: Biblioteca del Institute Nacional de Estu- dios Histdricos de la Revolucidn Mexicana, 1960), p. 72; St. Louis Star Chronicle article of Oct. 12, 1905, republished in El Colmillo PfiblTco, Oct. 22, 1905. 47 three men for fomenting revolution, defamation of character, 29 and for putting the Mexican people in a state of anarchy.

El Colmillo PGblico immediately launched a fund-raising drive to support the Liberals' defense and to keep the paper running *z o Ultimately, $4,000 was raised for the St. Louis Junta.

The government of the United States also proved wil­

ling to assist the Mexican dictatorship in this period, and

about the same time as the arrests, the Post Office Depart­ ment cancelled the second class mailing privileges of Regen-

eracidn on the grounds that more than half its circulation was

in Mexico. Ricardo became personally convinced of the con­ nivance of the United States and Mexican authorities when, dur

ing the course of this investigation, the Postmaster of St.

Louis called him in ostensibly to discuss the accounts of

the newspaper. Ricardo wrote that an agent of the Pinkerton

Detective Agency was present in the Postmaster's office, and

that the sole purpose of the visit was to enable the agent to 2930

29 Ibid. The same article asserted that Regeneracion had a circulation of 10,500 and that there were 60,000 members of the Mexican Liberal Party. 30 Interview with PSrez Fernandez in Demdcrata, Sept. 3, 1924. The cause of Regeneraci6n and the arrested editors became the major preoccupation of Ej^ Colmillo Publi­ co in the next few weeks. A two-page cartoon on Oct. 29, 1905, pictured Diaz pushing a burro labeled Esperon y de la Flor, who is pushing Uncle Sam, who is choking a woman en­ titled Regeneracidn. A lion labeled the American Press roars at the attackers. EJ^ Colmillo Pfiblico much appreciated the support given the Liberals by the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the St. Louis Star Chronicle. In the Nov. 5, 1905, issue, another two-page cartoon pictured the woman [Regeneracionj 48

*7 1 identify him. He later testified against Ricardo. About this time, the United States postal authorities began inter­ cepting the Junta's mail and turning copies of this corres- pondence over to the Mexican government.

Besides the close watch by the postal authorities, the Mexican exiles were under constant surveillance of Ameri­ can private detectives employed by the Mexican government.

The Pinkertonsparticipated in the 1905 arrest in St. Louis, and others were hired from time to time. Thomas Furlong, of the Furlong Secret -Service Agency in St. Louis, was, however, the principal agent involved in this activity. J The fact33 *32 with ball and chain on her ankle, looking on as the lion (the American Press) bites viciously on the backsides of President Diaz and Theodore Roosevelt. The arrests made RegeneraciSn a symbol of the opposition to many in Mexico. A cartoon in the Nov. 26, 1905, issue shows Regeneracidn attempting to pump blood into the arm of a sick-looking Patria while a solemn Diaz applies a tourniquet to the upper part of the same arm.

"^R. Flores Magon to Weinberger, May 9, 1921, in Flores Magon, Epistolario revolucionario. III, pp. 68-79. 32 See Gonzalez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y_ textos» pp. 56 ff. This work is made up largely of materials found in the Archive de la Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores, the agency of the Mexican government which received this intercepted mail from its consuls. Ricardo Flores Mag6n never realized this was happening and always felt he was being betrayed within the Liberal organization. This, too, happened. 33 , See the private detectives' reports published in El Democrata, Sept. 4, 1924. 49 that the Mexican government always had such detailed informa­ tion regarding the whereabouts and the activities of the

Liberals would have a tremendous bearing on the effectiveness of the Partido Liberal when it tried to translate its opposi­ tion to Diaz into direct action.:

The Flores Mag6ns and Sarabia remained in jail until

January, 1906. In February, with the help of the funds raised by E_1 Colmillo PGblico, they were able to resume pub­ lishing Regeneracidn. Their trial was originally scheduled for January 15, 1906, but was set back nearly two months until the twelfth of March. They learned that the Mexican government was trying to extradite them. As political of­ fenses were not grounds for extradition, the Diaz government usually preferred charges of theft or murder against political exiles. The delay in the trial date likely resulted from the need of the Mexican government for time to work up suitable charges. Certain that death awaited them in Mexico, Ricardo,

Enrique, and Juan Sarabia jumped their bond and fled to Toron­ to, Canada, in March, 1906, going into hiding. Villarreal,

Rivera, and Manuel Sarabia remained in St. Louis to continue the publication of Regeneracion. ^ The bitter assaults on the

■^R. Flores Magon to Weinberger, May 9, 1921, in Flores Magon, Epistolario revolucionario. Ill, pp. 68-79; Abad de Santillkn, Ricardo Flores Magon. p. 20; Turner, Ricardo Flores Magdn, pp. 76-85; El Colmillo PSblico, Jan. 7. Feb. 4, and Mar. 25, 1906. 50 government continued in that paper. Regeneracion warned that

Mexico would not forever endure such a government as that headed by Porfirio Diaz.

Mexico is in one of those periods, -- thirty years is but a minute in the life of humanity, -- which favor the success and imposition of animal force, in which anthropology is inefficient to describe the men govern­ ing the country, and therefore, we must resort to zo­ ology. In fact, it is zoology, wherein we may find the characters of our oppressors.

Their beastly love for worldly pleasures, which is a characteristic feature of our tyrants, is an indica­ tion of their animal passions, which they cannot dis­ guise either by the golden ribbons of military men or by the diplomas of professionals. . . .

Diaz is the chief of the gang; the old and cunning wolf, whose nostrils dilate at the smell of human blood. . . .

Reyes. . . who is the man that has not shut his eyes to avoid the sight of that hideous hyena who has reigned supreme over Nuevo Le6n, Tamaulipas and Coahuila for more than twenty years? . . .

Limantour, the king of finances who has had the merit of filling the pockets of the official world with the money of the nation, but has emptied those of the people. Or Corral, the executioner of the Yaqui race, whose power as a tyrant has had as a stage the houses of ill-fame of the City of Mexico, wherein the Vice President, drunk as a swine . . . has beaten the unfortunate demimondaines who declined to love the dirty upstart.

But such state of affairs cannot be eternal. The cor­ ruption in the air cannot indefinitely bring forth new corruption and perpetuate it to such extent that the abnormal conditions of today may become the normal conditions of tomorrow. . . .

Avail thyselves of the half hour of scandal, do not waste a single minute. Thy saturnalia shall be the last. Drink blood, enjoy life, once more let thy 51

feet trample over all virtues; steal the bread earned so dearly by the people; get good and fat. . . .

But you may be sure that the day for revenge is not very far off.35

Although the Flores Magons and Juan Sarabia may have escaped the fate of being returned to the "beastly" rulers of

Mexico by going to Canada, leaving the United States did not 36 put the exiles beyond the reach of the private detectives.

Not long after their arrival in Toronto, they were once more under close surveillance. Enrique Flores Mag6n claimed that a female Pinkerton agent charmed Manuel Sarabia into reveal- ing the refugees' location. Given the close contacts with those who remained in St. Louis, however, in addition to the

assistance of the postal authorities, the Liberal leaders

should not have been too difficult to trace. Once they dis­

covered the agents in Toronto, the Flores Magons and Sarabia went to Montreal. They remained there until late August,

1906, when Ricardo and Juan went to El Paso, Texas, intending TO to set in motion the revolution that would overthrow Diaz.36 35

35 From an article in Regeneracion, May 15, 1906, in Dept, of State, Rec. Grp. 59, NA, Despatches, Vol. 183.

36A cartoon in Colmillo Pfiblico. April 1, 1906,had Regeneracidn laughing in Canada, Uncle Sam looking bewildered in the United States, and Diaz and Corral attacking the burro, Esperdn y de la Flor, in Mexico. 3 7 Kaplan, Combatimos la tirania, p . 164. 3 8 Abad de Santilldn, Ricardo Flores Magon, p. 20; Kaplan, Combatimos la tirania, pp. 161-181. 52

While the leaders were still in Canada, the Partido Liberal took one of its most significant steps, promulgating, on July 1,

1906, the Programa del Partido Liberal, the first comprehensive indictment of the Diaz regime and overall plan for Mexico's re­ construction.

Before this, the Liberal propaganda was being blamed for a serious disturbance in Mexico, the strike of Mexican cop­ per miners at an American-owned mine in Cananea, Sonora, on

June 1, 1906. Considered one of the most important develop­ ments in Mexican labor history as well as a serious blow at the stability of the Diaz government, the strike and riot at

Cananea were not planned or carried out by the Junta Organiza-

dora. But the propaganda of the Liberal Party played such an

important role in arousing the miners' leaders that this up­

rising must properly be taken as a part of what might by now

be called a magonista movement against the dictatorship. More­

over, Diaz himself blamed the St. Louis Liberals.

The area along the Arizona-Sonora border was something

of a hotbed of Liberal activity. As noted earlier, agents of

Regeneracion had for long been active in Cananea and in

nearby Douglas, Arizona. In Cananea, Esteban B. Calderon

and Manuel M. Dieguez were strong adherents of the Liberal TQ cause and corresponded with the Junta in St. Louis. Or-

■^See the letter from Calderon to Jose M. Valenzuela, Nov. 1, 1905, calling for support of the Liberals arrested in 53 ganized Liberal activity in Cananea began with the formation

of the Union Liberal Humanidad on January 16, 1906. It was

formed by Calderon, Dieguez, and Francisco M. Ibarra. About

fifteen men were charter members. Not more than ten addition­

al joined before the strike.^ Dieguez was president, Ibarra vice-president, and Calder6n secretary. The Cananea club

declared support of the Junta in St. Louis and accepted the

Liberal challenge of the previous September to disseminate

Liberal ideas.^ Ibarra ran a small grocery store in Cananea, while all the other members worked at the Cananea Consolidated

Copper Company, principally owned by an American, Colonel

William C. Greene. The Greene company dominated the town and

the area.

For a time, the Liberals in Cananea were apparently

content to hold secret meetings, propagandize a bit, collect

funds^ arid read Regeneracion. These activities could not for

St. Louis. Also see R. Flores Magon to Calderon and Dieguez, March 3, 1906, in which Ricardo encouraged Liberal activity in Cananea. Both letters in Esteban B. Calder6n, Juicio sobre la guerra del Yaqui y_ genesis de la huelga de Cananea (Mexico: Ediciones del Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas, 1956), pp. 20-23.

Testimony of Calderon in Manual Gonzalez Ramirez, ed. , L

^^Constitution of Union Liberal Humanidad is in Cal­ deron (ibid.). pp. 3-4. 54 long satisfy the members of the club, who had been enlisted from among the more militant miners. To remedy this, Calderon proposed a more active role for his group in a letter of

April 6, 1906 to Villarreal, secretary of the Junta. Calderon suggested that a meeting of the workers be held on May 5 under the pretext of honoring the memory of Ignacio Zaragoza for his victory over the French at Puebla. Selected speakers would use this patriotic gathering to encourage the assembled miners to form a local union. Once a union had been organized at

Cananea, the union movement could be extended into other areas with the aim of creating a united miners' movement, a Liga

Minera de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Each local union would have an opportunity to make connections with the Junta

Organizadora, thus creating a solid segment of proletarian support for the Liberal Party.^

Without receiving a reply from Villarreal, the Union

Liberal Humanidad, a secret organization, created the Junta

Patriotica as a front organization to sponsor the May 5 cele­ bration. Lie. Lazaro Gutierrez de Lara was selected to be the principal speaker. A socialist and a native of Monterrey,

Nuevo Leon, he had practiced law in Chihuahua and later in

Cananea, and had written some articles for Regeneracion. *43

^Calderdn to Villarreal, April 6, 1906, ibid., pp. 9-10. 43 Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revolution, p. 163; Turner, Ricardo Flores Mag6n, p. 85. Gutierrez de Lara was 55

Di6guez and CalderSn also spoke at the meeting. The need for the formation of a miners' union was the theme of all the speeches: Only by uniting could the workers take their place with past Mexican heroes and be an important part of the struggle for liberty and the social betterment of the Mexican people.^ Shortly after this meeting, Gutierrez de Lara formed the area's second liberal group, called simply Club

Liberal de Cananea. Both clubs directed their activities toward organizing a miners' union at the Cananea Consolidated

Copper Company; but neither group wanted a strike, at least, not so soon. Their agitation had set in motion more than they AC were ready to handle.

The Mexican workers at Cananea had a number of griev­ ances against the company. In the matter of wages, the wor­ kers were among the best-paid in Mexico. In the years of Por- firio Diaz this did not necessarily mean much, but what was bad in Cananea was the obviously foreign domination. Mexicans had little hope of advancing to the better jobs, and even when

later to be John Kenneth Turner's traveling companion when, in 1908, he gathered his material for Barbarous Mexico. He also worked with the magonistas in Los Angeles.

^This meeting was reported by the Cananea radical paper M Centenario, May 12, 1906. Article printed in Gonzalez Ramirez, ed., La huelga de Cananea, pp. 14-15.

^Testimony of Calderon and PlScido Rios, ibid., pp. 117, 137. 56

they performed the same jobs as the American workers, they were paid considerably less. The strike itself broke out

abruptly on June 1, 1906, and because of the Liberals' position

of influence with the miners, Calderon and Di6guez were called

on to help present the workers' demands to the employers.

Greene made a written reply the same day and presented the

company's arguments against each of the workers' demands. He

concluded with the hope that all the employees would join to

make Cananea the most important mineral center in the nation

as well as to end a strike brought about by lies and intrigues

of adventurers who were not even interested in the workers at

Cananea.47

Turned down by Greene, the striking workers attempted

to bring on a complete work stoppage. To prevent this, George

Metcalfe, manager of the company lumber yard, and his brother,

William, fired on the unarmed strikers. Suffering several

casualties, the workers overpowered the Metcalfes and killed

both of them. Much shooting followed as the strikers began

to arm themselves against the armed American workers. The 4*

46 bIbid., pp. 20-21. Two lists of demands were made. The second, which tempered the first, was presented in writing to Greene.

^For Greene's reply,- see ibid., pp. 21-25. 4 8 Leon Diaz Cardenas, Cananea, primer brote del sindicalismo en Mexico (Mexico: Departamento de Bibliotecas de la Secretarla de Educacion Ptiblica, 1936), pp. 49-54. 57

strikers dynamited mine property and both Greene and the Ameri­

can consular agent in the Sonora city, Dr. W.J. Galbraith, 49 panicked. In a series of wires to the United States Depart­ ment of State, Galbraith greatly exaggerated the situation and

asked for armed intervention: "Send assistance immediately to

Cananea, Sonora. American citizens are being murdered and property is being dynamited and we must have help." "Impera­

tive immediate assistance be rendered American citizens at

Cananea, Sonora, Mexico." "Mexican troops have not arrived.

We are in great danger. Send troops to Cananea if possible.

Greene was no calmer. He sent urgent messages to Governor

Rafael IzSbel of Sonora saying his presence in Cananea was

absolutely necessary to restore order. In addition, he con­

tacted newspapers and associates in Arizona for help in what

was made to look like a developing race war in Cananea. Al­

though the details of what took place are none too clear, it

appears that some citizens of that state were ready to fight,

and Izabel, because he did not know how serious the situation 49

49 Galbraith was also the chief medical officer at the Greene company. When Greene was out of town, he was the personal representative of the company president. See Albert R. Moravetz to Robert Bacon, Jan. 7, 1906, Dept, of State, NA, Despatches of United States Consuls in Nogales, 1889-1906, Vol. 4.

^^Wires sent June 1 and June 2, 1906- Despatches, Nogales, Vol. 4. 58 was in the mining city, allowed 276 American volunteers, com­ manded by Arizona Ranger Captain Thomas Rynning, to accompany him from Naco, Sonora, to Cananea. IzSbel and the volunteers, who agreed to abide by Mexican regulations, arrived aboard their train at 10 A.M., June 2. The governor found the town in a confused state, but the situation was not as critical as he had been led to believe. The volunteers were not used; they reboarded their train that afternoon and left for Arizona at 51 10 P.M. But the damage had been done. It appeared that

Arizona Rangers had violated Mexican sovereignty at the be­ hest of the Diaz government.

Some fighting between American workers and the strikers continued through the afternoon of June 2, but the arrival of more Mexican rurales and regular troops brought the disturbances under control. On the morning of June 3,

General Luis E. Torres, jefe milltar of Sonora, and additional troops arrived. They disarmed workers on both sides, and work in the mines resumed. The remaining resistance melted away the next day when General Torres announced that all who

Albert W. Brickwood to Dept, of State, June 22, 1906, Despatches, Nogales, Vol. 4; Gonzalez Ramirez, ed., La huelga de Cananea, pp. 26, 29-31, 46-47, 57,75-77. Rynning himself oTfered a different version. According to him, he demanded that IzSbel allow the Americans to accompany him. Rynning also said the Rangers restored order and he was giving orders to Colonel Emilio Kosterlitzki of the rurales and almost every­ one else in Cananea. For this colorful, but questionable, ac­ count, see Thomas H. Rynning, as told to A1 Cohn and Joe Chi­ solm, Gun Notches, the Life Story of a Cowboy-Soldier (New York: A.L. Burt Co., 1931), pp. 290-315. 59 did not return to work within two days would be conscripted into the army for the campaign being waged against the Yaqui 5 2 Indians. He refused to meet with any of the strikers.

Total casualties were four Americans killed and seven wounded.

On the Mexican side, the official count was eighteen dead and eighteen wounded.^ Galbraith wired the Department of

State: "great credit due brave American boys of comp, [sic]"

The excitable consular agent took a leave immediately after the strike, followed shortly by his resignation.^

The presence of the Americans at Cananea keenly em­ barrassed the Mexican government. Even supporters of the government were shocked by this turn of events, and the Diaz administration came in for heavy criticism from some friends as well as foes. Among the foes, a cartoon in El Colmillo

Pfiblico pictured IzSbe1, Torres, and Uncle Sam shooting down unarmed Mexican workers.^ The government supported

IzSbel after he explained the reasons for permitting the

Americans to cross the border, and the irrepressible cartoon- *5

5 2 Diaz Cdrdenas, Cananea, pp. 63-70. 5 3 Brickwood to Dept, of State, June 22, 1906, Des­ patches, Nogales, Vol. 4.

"^Galbraith to Dept, of State, June 2, 1906; Galbraith to Secretary of State, June 26, 1906, Despatches, Nogales, Vol. 4.

55E1 Colmillo Pflblico. June 10, 1906. 60 ists showed Diaz and Corral busily washing IzSibel of responsi­ bility with soap bearing the names of the government-subsi­

dized newspapers.^ Diaz evidently realized from the first that the involvement of a foreign company so close to the United

States border could make the situation very difficult. On June

2, United States Secretary of State Elihu Root wired Ambassa­

dor Thompson to "Ascertain whether, discreetly, the Mexican

Government would welcome or acquiesce in assistance of United

States troops to preserve order in this emergency. . . .

Diaz replied he appreciated the offer but that the situation 5 8 was well in hand. Unfortunately for Diaz, Izabel did not

know whether the situation was in hand or not.

The attention focused on the Cananea strike from both

sides of the border probably saved the lives of some of the

leading participants, because the government might have felt

executions could cause a greater reaction against the Diaz

administration. CalderSn, Dieguez, and Ibarra were sen­

tenced to fifteen years in jail, and in 1909 were sent to eg the dungeons at San Juan de Ulua in Veracruz harbor.

56Ibid.. July 1, 1906. 57 Root to Thompson, June 2, 1906, Dept, of State, Rec. Grp. 59, NA, Despatches, Vol. 183. C O Thompson to Dept, of State, June 5, 1906, ibid. c n Lyle C. Brown, "The Mexican Liberals and Their Struggle against the Diaz Dictatorship: 1900-1906," Antologla (Mexico: Mexico City College, 1956), pp. 338-344. Released after the fall of Diaz, Calderon and DiSguez went on to be- 61

The importance of the strike and riot at Cananea comes both from the economic development -- it was the first major strike in modern Mexican history — and from the development of a strong nationalistic feeling which helped undermine the dic­ tatorship.

The Cananea incident was also very important in con­ nection with the Flores Magdn movement, and in this it pro­ bably brought the greatest embarrassment to the Diaz govern­ ment. On June 4, 1906, Diaz told Ambassador Thompson that the basis of the whole incident at Cananea was revolution­ ary and was aimed at his government. He said there were about twenty revolutionists in Cananea, all Mexicans, and all inspired from revolutionary headquarters in St. Louis, Mis­ souri.^® The last thing Diaz wished to acknowledge pub­ licly was that the St. Louis Junta was really a revolution­ ary agency with influence in Mexico. Publicly the Cananea affair was just a labor dispute; nothing was really wrong with

Mexico, said the dictator. Thus, when the Mexican Herald cor­ respondent in Washington, D.C., picked up Thompson’s confiden­ tial report of his conversation with Diaz on June 4, 1906, the come generals in the army of Venustiano Carranza during the later stage of the revolution.

®®Thompson to Secretary of State, June 4, 1906, Dept, of State, Rec. Grp. 59, NA, Despatches, Vol.184. 62 very day it was sent, both governments were embarrassed. The

United States apologized publicly, stating a misunderstanding

caused their declaration that the Mexican government considered the riot at Cananea revolutionary rather than just a labor dis­ pute . ^

Despite official denials, the Mexican government tried mightily to tie Flores Mag6n to the Cananea strike. During

the violence, correspondence from the Flores Mag6ns to some of

the Liberal leaders in Cananea was found. Torres and Izdbel

immediately wired news of this to Vice-President Corral, con­

sidering it highly important. Corral answered that this would,

it was hoped, enable Mexico to extradite the Flores Mag6ns.

A reporter in St. Louis interviewed Villarreal, highest-ranking

Junta member there, since Ricardo and Juan Sarabia were in

Canada, about the Cananea troubles. Villarreal said,

This is not true. We have simply been printing the truth about the conditions at Cananea.

And he added that, as far as the Junta was concerned, this was

a labor fight, not a revolution, thus placing the members and

leaders of the Liberals in agreement with the official

^Thompson to Secretary of State, June 11, 1906, Dept, of State, Rec. Grp. 59, NA, Despatches, Vol. 183. This includes wires to Mexican Herald from its Washington bureau and a clipping regarding the apology from the Mexican Herald, June 9, 1906.

^Torres and IzSbel to Corral, June 5, 1906; Corral to Torres and Izdbel, June 6, 1906, in Gonz&lez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y textos, p. 76. 63 government version. "Our great purpose is to overthrow Diaz,"

Villarreal admitted. "We shall not depart from that purpose until the work is accomplished."^^

After Cananea, Diaz was sufficiently concerned about the Liberal Junta to call Thompson in and ask the help of the United States in dealing with the revolutionaries. The talk centered on Regeneraci6n. Thompson said. "The language in which this paper is written is of the most violent and offensive meaning, anarchistic in its aims and intended to inspire a revolutionary sentiment among the Mexican people."

Thompson forwarded copies of the paper to the Department of

State:

The copies I have the honor to transmit were sent to me by President Diaz himself after various talks with him in which he expressed the wish that our Government could through some process end the possibility of the publishers of this paper continuing their evil work. He has told me the publishers of the paper are anar­ chistic in all that they advocate and on his expressed sentiment, I venture to suggest that if these men could be dealt with as such men should be, the Presi­ dent would feel a deep gratitude.64

Talking with Thompson, Diaz called Flores Mag6n an

anarchist before anyone else had done so, possibly even be­ fore Ricardo considered himself one. In his requests of the

^Clipping on interview from Los Angeles Daily Times, June 6, 1906, in Dept, of State, Rec. Grp. 59, NA, Despatches, Vol. 183.

^Thompson to Dept, of State, June 19, 1906, Dept, of State, Rec. Grp. 59, NA, Vol. 183. "I have promised President Diaz to return the enclosed copies of 1Regeneracion* as soon as the Department has finished with them," Thompson added. 64

Ambassador, Diaz was to get admirable cooperation from the

United States in the months ahead. In the immediate future, however, Liberal hopes surged upward. By the fall of 1906, the leaders of the Liberal Party Junta were converging on the Mexican border to begin what they believed would be the revolution that would bring down Porfirio Diaz and all that he represented. And they would now have positive goals clearly spelled out in the Programa del Partido Liberal.

This is what they would fight for, this was the blueprint for the Mexico that would rise out of the ruins of the

Diaz system. CHAPTER III

A PROGRAM FOR A REVOLUTION

"The platform or program contained 52 specific points for the reorganization of Mexican political and economic life. Nearly all these eventually worked their way into the Con­ stitution of 1917." . --Howard F. Cline.

More than four years before Francisco I. Madero be­ gan the Mexican Revolution with the moderate demands of his

Plan de San Luis Potosi. the Junta Organizadora del Partido

Liberal Mexicano issued one of the most important documents in modern Mexican history. This was its Programa % Manifesto published in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 1, 1906. The Pro­ grama was issued to show the Mexican people and the world ex­ actly what the party was fighting for and what it proposed to do in Mexico. In its political and economic goals, the

Programa went far beyond anything Madero ever envisioned for his country. Not until the promulgation of the Constitution of 1917 did the Mexican Revolution advance as far as the goals of the Partido Liberal in 1906. Later, Ricardo Flores Magon

^Howard F. Cline, The United States and Mexico (Cam­ bridge: Harvard University Press, 1961), p. 117.

65 66 would look back on the Programs of 1906 as the "timid reforms that yesterday we called utopias." The Mexican Revolution never seemed to catch up with Flores Mag6n.

In 1906, no one called the goals of the Liberals timid.

The Programs y Manifesto is a lengthy document, the greater part of which is an exposition of the philosophy of the young 3 political party and its goals. Confident of victory in its struggle "against the despotism reigning in our country to­ day," the Party was putting in concrete form the policies it hoped to carry out once in power. The fifty-two specific pro­ posals included in the Programs itself spelled out in detail the general statements of the exposition, and were divided into these categories: (1) constitutional reforms, (2) betterment and development of instruction, (3) foreigners, (4) restric­ tions on the abuses of the Catholic clergy, (5) capital and 32

2 Regeneracion. Oct. 9, 1915. Article "El mundo marcha" republished in Ricardo Flores Magon, Semi11a liber- taria, Vol. I (Mexico: Grupo Cultural "Ricardo Flores Mag6n," 1923), p. 1. 3 The following discussion of the Programs y Manifesto is based solely on that document. It is easily accessible in a number of different sources, including Barrera Fuentes, His- toria de la revoluciGn, pp. 166-193; Ricardo and JesGs Flores Magon, Batalla a Izi dictadura, Vol. Ill of Martin Luis Guzmzin, ed., E_1 liberalismo mexicano en pensamiento en acciGn (Mexico: Empresas Editoriales, 1948), pp. 122-162; Manuel Gonz&lez Ramirez, ed., Planes politicos otros documentos. Vol. I of Fuentes para la historia de la revoluciGn mexicana (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura EconGmica, 1954), pp. 3-19. 67

labor, (6) lands, (7) taxes, (8) general points, and (9) a special clause.

Under constitutional reforms the Liberals proposed a return to a four-year term of office for the president and no immediate reelection for the president and state governors, with eligibility not restored until after two intervening terms. The vice-president would preside over the legisla­ tive functions of the government. A national guard would replace the army, substituting for obligatory military ser­ vice voluntary service. Military regulations considered op­ pressive and humiliating to a man’s dignity would be sup­ pressed. Military tribunals in time of peace would also be

abolished. The Programa would strengthen Articles 6 and 7

of the Constitution dealing with freedom of speech and press.

No restrictions would be placed on these rights except those

involving falsehoods, blackmail, or violations of moral law.

The death penalty would be abolished except in cases of

treason, and severe prison sentences would be imposed on dis­

honest public officials. In the realm of constitutional re­

form, the Liberals also advocated returning the territory of

Quintana Roo to Yucatan.

In the second section, the Liberals favored the im­

mediate construction of great numbers of primary schools. This

need would be even greater because they advocated the suppres­

sion of Church schools in a later section. In all schools of 68 the Republic, whether state or private, the teaching would be lay teaching. Education would be compulsory for all children until the age of fourteen. Poor children would be assisted in obtaining an education. The Party proposed to see that all teachers were paid good salaries. All schools were to offer training in the arts and crafts and military instruction, but special attention was to be given to instruction in civic affairs, which the Liberals felt had been sadly neglected in

Mexico.

Foreign ownership of Mexican wealth under Diaz was a long-opposed aspect of the Porfirian rule. In the section on foreigners, the Liberals proposed that those owning land in

Mexico would have to renounce their former nationalities and become Mexican citizens to retain possession of their proper­ ty. The Liberals would also prohibit Chinese immigration, which, they contended, had hurt Mexican labor because the

Chinese worked for such low salaries.

As well as suppressing Church schools, the Liberals proposed other measures to restrict the influence of the Ca­ tholic Church. They would tax the Church for any business it conducted and for any money it received. They would also nationalize the property of the Church according to the Laws of the Reform, and would enforce all those laws, punishing the Church for any infractions.

Considered the most important section of the Programa was that dealing with the relations between capital and labor. 69

Here, too, one sees the most obvious influence on the Consti­ tution of 1917. The Liberals called for an eight-hour day and a minimum wage of a peso a day for all labor, except in those areas with higher living costs, where the wage was to be raised accordingly. They would carefully regulate domestic work to prevent exploitation. Piece work laborers would be protected to prevent their employers from circumventing the minimum wage and hour provisions. Children under fourteen years of age would not be permitted to work. The owners of mines, factories, workshops, and the like were expected to provide the best possible health and safety conditions for

their employees. The government would also require rural property owners to provide adequate and hygienic living quar­

ters for their employees. Employers would also be expected

to pay compensation for on-the-job accidents. The debts of

field workers owed to the landowners were to be nullified,

and sharecroppers would be protected. Landlords would also

have to indemnify renters for improvements they had made on

the property. Severe penalties would be imposed on employers

who tried to pay their employees in anything but actual

money, or tried to defraud the worker of his wages by fines,

or held back pay longer than a week, or refused to pay an em­

ployee on the completion of a job or when he was dismissed.

A resolution reminiscent of the Cananea trouble a month earlier

provided that no industry could employ a majority of foreigners,

and the payment of higher wages to non-Mexicans for similar jobs 70 was prohibited. Mexicans could not be paid i n ,a form different

from that of payment to foreigners. An obligatory Sunday rest

day concluded the Liberal labor program, which meant laborers

could enjoy a six-day work week.

Mexico's land problem also drew some attention from

the drafters of the Liberal Party Program. The landowners of

the nation were obligated to make all their land productive.

Any land they did not use would revert to the state, and would

be made available to any Mexican residing in a foreign coun­

try who wished to return to Mexico and farm the land. The

government would pay for the return passage. Any other land­

less resident of the country could also obtain the land if he

wanted to cultivate it. The state would determine how much

land each person could obtain. The land could not be resold

by the persons who obtained it in this manner. The state

would also create an agricultural bank, Banco Agricola, which

would advance credit to poor farmers as a means of their pur­

chasing land.

On the subject of taxes, the Liberals favored the

gradual elimination of the stamp tax and the abolition of

taxes on capital amounting to less than $100, with the excep­

tion of churches and other businesses considered harmful.

The Programa also advocated heavier taxes on vices and luxur­

ies to remove the tax burden on necessities. It would pre­

vent the possibility of the rich evading taxes through special

arrangements with the government. 71

Under general points, the Liberals were for the sim­ plification of the process of juicio de amparo (a writ stay­ ing government action), restitution of the free zone, and equality before the law for all children of the same parent, whether legitimate or illegitimate. It also favored prison reforms by substituting, when possible, agricultural colonies for jails. They would suppress the jefes politicos, and would restore local power to municipal governments. The Programa called for measures to prevent high interest rates on, and the scarcity of, articles which were considered necessities.

Indians would be protected. The establishment of ties of union with other Latin American countries was another goal.

On the triumph of the Liberals, wealth and goods which of­ ficials and friends of the dictatorship had acquired illegal­ ly would be confiscated. Communal or individual lands taken from the Yaquis, Mayas, or other tribes would be returned.

The first national congress which would meet after the fall of Diaz would annul all of the reforms in the Constitution made by that dictator. It would also make needed changes in the Constitution and any other laws. It would study all other matters of interest to the country, whether in the Pro­ grama or not, and would enforce the provisions of the Programa,

"especially in the matter of labor and land."

The concluding special clause informed foreign govern­ ments that neither the party nor the Mexican people wanted any 72 more foreign debts. Those contracted in the future would be

null and void when the Liberals came to power. With this,

the drafters of the Programa added the slogan of the Liberal

Party, Reforma, Libertad Justicia. There followed the

names of the officers of the Junta Organizadora: Presidente,

Ricardo Flores Magdn; vicepresidente, Juan Sarabia; secre-

tario, Antonio I. Villarreal; tesoreo, Enrique Flores Magdn;

primer vocal, Prof. Librado Rivera; secundo vocal, Manual

Sarabia; tercer vocal, Rosalie Bustamante.

The Liberals then appended a ringing manifesto, signed

by the same people, calling on the Mexican people to join the

Partido Liberal Mexicano and help bring justice and freedom

to their native land. Pointing out that the Programa was not

perfect, the manifesto said it would cure many of the evils

in Mexico and pave the way for future advances. At this

point, the Liberals did not specifically call for a revolution

to bring about this great new Mexico they envisioned. The

implication, however, could not be missed. In closing, the

Liberals put these alternatives before the people:

Mexicans: Between that which the despotism offers you and that which the Liberal Party brings you, Choose! If you want shackles, misery, humiliation before the foreigner, the gray life of a debased outcast, uphold the dictatorship which gives you all this; if you pre­ fer liberty, economic betterment, dignification of Mexican citizens, the exalted life of a man master of himself, come to the Liberal Party. . . .

The Programa and Manifesto was issued from St. Louis, Mis­

souri, probably by Librado Rivera, while Ricardo Flores 73

Mag6n and Juan Sarabia, the Party leaders, were still in Cana­

da. There is some question regarding the authorship of the

document. Flores Magdn’s earliest biographer, the anarchist

Diego Abad de Santillan, who knew Rivera quite well, states

simply that it was for the most part the work of Sarabia,

and that Ricardo wrote only the most radical parts, which

Abad de Santillan leaves unspecified.^ It may be that Abad

de Santillan wished to believe Ricardo was always an anar­

chist and could not have contributed much to this mildly so­

cialistic program. Another student of the Flores Magon move­

ment, however, has said with even greater presumption that

"it seems apparent that the 1906 manifesto was largely the

work of Ricardo."^ Yet Florencio Barrera Puentes, a compe­

tent historian of the period before the Revolution, tends to

agree with Abad de Santill&n in that he asserts that the Pro-

grama represented the victory of the views of Juan Sarabia

Garnilo Arriaga over those of Flores Mag6n. According to

this account, Ricardo would have come out with an anarchist

^Abad de Santillan, Ricardo Flores Mag6n, p. 20. c Myra E. Jenkins, "Ricardo Flores Magon and the Mexican Liberal Party, 1900-1922" (unpublished Doctoral dissertation. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1953), p. 199. This work shows an almost complete lack of informa­ tion about Juan Sarabia and many other liberals, as well as little knowledge of Flores Magon and his activities in the years between 1902 and 1908. 74 statement in 1906 had not the others in the Liberal Party

Junta dissuaded him.^ This, too, is unlikely, given Ricardo's later statements on this subject.

Enrique Flores Mag6n is perhaps the most reliable au­ thority on the composition of the Liberal Party Program, al­ though he, too, claims Ricardo would have been more radical had he had everything his own way. Shortly after the organi­ zation of the Junta in September, 1905, according to Enrique, the Liberals began to think about a specific program and to start sounding out the views of adherents in the Republic.

As a result of this activity, many contributors had a hand in writing and modifying the Programa (including such men in Mex­

ico as Manual M. Dieguez, Esteban B. Calderon, Camilo Arriaga,

Antonio Diaz Soto y Gama, Hilario C. Salas, Enrique Novoa, 7 Francisco Naranjo, Jose Neira, and Jose Maria Levya. Many

of these individuals were to continue to be important figures

in the Flores Mag6n movement or in later stages of the revolu­

tion.

This view of the responsibility for the Liberal Party

Program is supported by a number of articles which appeared

in E_1 Colmillo Pfiblico in Mexico City in the first half of

1906. On March 4, the leading contributor to this paper, who *7

^Barrera Fuentes, Historia de la revolucidn, p. 166. 7 Enrique Flores Mag6n, "Vida y hechos de los hermanos Flores Mag6n," in El Nacional (Mexico), a series of articles in 1944-1945 (Mexico: Archives Econdmicos de la Biblioteca de la Secretarla de Hacienda). 75 used the pseudonym "Anakreon,l,! wrote that the Liberals in St„

Louis were proposing to draw up a program and were asking for suggestions. Anakreon then proceeded to give a great number of suggestions, many of which were identical to those propos­ als found in the Programa. E_1 Colmillo Pfiblico and Anakreon continued to discuss the program almost until the time it was o promulgated.

As for taking all these suggestions and ideas from supporters in Mexico and hammering them into a cohesive do­ cument, either Flores Magdn or Sarabia was fully capable. The chances are that it was a cooperative effort, perhaps done while they were in Canada, with ample help from many other

Liberals in both the United States and Mexico. It is also true, however, that by this time Flores Magon and Sarabia may have been pulling away from each other, the latter being a conscientious reformer aware of the political development of the Mexican people, while Ricardo was tending toward doctrinaire radicalism.

Whoever the author, the Program and the Manifesto heralded the beginning of concentrated Liberal activity that would increase in intensity through the summer of 1906 and

into the fall, when the revolt would be attempted. With the *

®See El Colmillo Pfiblico, Mar. 4, Mar. 11, May 6, and June 10, 1906. 76 aid of an untold number of sympathizers along the border and in Mexico, 15,000 copies of Regeneracidn were regularly sent into Mexico to be circulated by the Local Liberal clubs af­ filiated with the Junta. The Party was strongest in workers' centers in the states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, San

Luis Potosl, Puebla, Oaxaca, Tabasco, and, especially, Vera­ cruz.^ This gave the Programa a wide circulation in the areas where the unrest in Mexico was most pronounced. Mexi­ can industrial workers were showing their discontent with the dictatorship in several ways.

The Cananea strike contributed to this discontent.

Shortly after that strike in Sonora began, the Gran Circulo de Obreros Libres was organized in the textile center of Rio

Blanco, Veracruz. The beginnings of a trade union, but also a secret organization, the Circulo maintained relations with the St. Louis Junta and was committed to the organization of

Mexican labor to fight the dictatorship and the abuses of capitalism.*^ The group immediately began publishing a peri­ odical called La Revolucion Social, a title which illustrates9

9 / Martinez Nunez, Lji vida heroica, p . 75.

*®Rafael Carrillo, Ricardo Flores Magdn, esbozo biografico (Mexico: n.p., 1945), pp. 18-19. 77 the point of view of the Rio Blanco Liberal leaders.** The movementin the textile region would also erupt in violence in the months ahead.

Not all working class discontent in Mexico was mani­ fested by the formation of secret societies, clandestine

Liberal agitation, and spontaneous strikes. On July 15, 1906, the first formal working class congress ever held under Diaz met in Mexico City. This was the meeting of tobacco workers in the Primer Congreso de Trabajadores de la Industria Taba- quera. The tobacco workers heard some rather incendiary speakers threatening strikes and other actions from their

leaders. As a personal representative of President Diaz,

Justo Sierra, Minister of Public Instruction and an eminent historian, spoke at the Congress. Sierra told the workers that the government welcomed such meetings. Even the aggres­ sive speeches did not disturb him or the government, because

"people who do not discuss are dead people, deserving of slavery." But in any strike that might occur, Sierra warned,

if there was one man who wanted to work, the government

could count on "60,000 bayonets to protect that man and to 12 preserve order."

^ E 1 Colmillo Pfiblico, June 10, 1906. This paper stated that La RevoluciGn Social was a "newspaper for workers and by workers.11 12 Account of meeting and Sierra quoted in Leafar Agetro, Las lochias" proletarias en Veracruz: historia y_ auto- crftica (Jalapa, Veracruz: Editorial "Barricada," 1942), pp. 21-22. 78

Diaz himself was aware of the discontent"evidenced by the gatherings of these kinds, and he commissioned one of his supporters, Rafael de Zayas Enriquez, to make a study of the uneasy situation in Mexico. Zayas Enriquez submitted his re­ port to the President on August 3, 1906. This frank report, entitled Apuntes confidenciales sobre la situacidn por la que atraviesa el pais, sus causas y manera de conjurar el peligro, pointed out that a "socialist movement" was spreading through­ out the country. Zayas Enriquez said that there was discon­ tent in every state where all political activity was monopo­ lized by a small group of politicians, who worked only for the welfare of themselves and their friends and gave no concern to the plight of the masses of the people. He felt that the unrest among the industrial workers, the primary current dis­ play of popular discontent, would continue to spread in that segment of the population. As it spread, the rural workers would also begin to react openly against their oppressors and the government, and the condition of the rural peon was much worse than that of the industrial worker. The experiences of history proved to Zayas Enriques that when no one looks after the people, they look after themselves, with results the gov­ ernment might not want to think about. He also believed that the opposition press was run by sincere dedicated men, that, contrary to some official opinion, it was effective, and that it was a mistake to try to persecute the press. Each editor persecuted became a martyr to liberty and a hero to many of 79

the people. Force might restrain this discontent for the pre­

sent, and this was probably the right policy, but Zayas En­

riquez believed that eventually the only way Diaz could re­

tain his position would be to put himself at the head of a

revolutionary movement to bring social and economic changes in

Mexico.* 1’5 On the basis of the subsequent actions taken by

Porfirio Diaz, it is probably safe to say he was not overly

impressed with the report of Zayas Enriquez.

Together with discontent and new Liberal groups in

Mexico, the Partido Liberal also made gains in the United

States. One of the most important new members was Praxedis

G. Guerrero in Arizona. Guerrero, Francisco Manrique, and

Manuel S. Vazquez formed the Obreros Libres among Mexican

mine workers at Morenci, Arizona, on June 3, 1906, the last

day of the strike at Cananea. The group asked to be recog­

nized by the Junta and was accepted.1^

Guerrero, who was to become a leading member of the

Liberal Party and its greatest martyr, is one of the most

fascinating personalities in Mexican history in the first

13 Rafael de Zayas Enriquez, Porfirio Dias: la evolu- cion de su vida (New York: D. Appleton 6 Co., 1908), pp. 218- 234. This report was not known until the publication of this book. 1^Guerrero to Junta Organizadora, June 3, 1906. In Martinez Nunez, La vida heroica, p. 78; letter of acceptance (from R. Flores Magdn to Guerrero, July 14, 1906), ibid., pp. 79-80. Flores Magon’s letter was from St. Louis, although he was in Canada at the time. This may explain the delay in an­ swering Guerrero. 80 decade of the twentieth .century. Libertarian writer and revo­ lutionary soldier, a great aura of romance surrounds his name.

He was. born in 1882 in Leon, Guanajuato, into the family of a wealthy hacendado. With a limited formal education, Guerrero nevertheless became an eager reader, turning especially to a serious study of Charles Darwin's theories. He was also in­ fluenced by protestant religion.A handsome young man from a wealthy family, Guerrero was outwardly in an admirable po­ sition. But the sensitive young hacendado became painfully aware of some of the worst evils of Porfirian Mexico. In the course of his travels for his father's business and also as an officer in Bernardo Reyes's Second Military Reserve, Gue­ rrero visited many areas of Mexico. He saw how the majority of the people were oppressed, often hungry. He saw the vast cleavage between the small upper class and the masses. It disturbed him and "his heart and brain rebelled against con­ ditions that made some men masters and others slaves."^ He reacted against these inequities by deciding to leave the country to see what life was like in the United States. He renounced his inheritance and worked as a laborer to support himself. Accompanied by Francisco Manrique, who came from* 15

15Ibid., pp. 26-27.

^Diego Abad de Santilldn, "Introducci6n" to Prdxedis G. Guerrero, Articulos literarios y_ de^ comb ate; pensamientos; cronicas revolucionarios, etc. (Mexico: Grupo Cultural "Ri­ cardo Flores Magon," 1925), p. 8. 81 similar circumstances and who would also be martyred in the

Liberal struggle against the dictatorship, Guerrero left for the United States on September 21, 1904, entering that coun- i 7 try at El Paso, Texas.

From El Paso, Guerrero and Manrique went to Denver,

Colorado, where they worked for a mining company. At the end of 1905 , they left for San Francisco, California, where they found work as wood cutters. As soon as they accumulated enough funds to continue their journey, the two young immi­ grants went to Arizona, obtaining employment in a mining 18 company foundry in Morenci. A few months later, Guerrero made the decision to affiliate himself with the Partido Liber­

al and to enter the battle against Diaz. A friendship with

Manuel Sarabia of the Junta was the factor in this decision;

it was strengthened by the publication of the Programa y Mani­

festo the following month. Once accepted by the Junta, Gue­

rrero broadened his activities from the Obreros Libres to un­

dertake organizing work in the southwestern United States and

the northern states of Mexico.He would devote the few re­

maining years of his life to the Liberal cause. 19*18

^See Martinez Nunez, La^ vida heroica, pp. 25-37, for Guerrero’s early life.

18Ibid., pp. 39-41.

19Ibid. , pp. 77-80. 82

With the upsurge of Liberal activity and with unrest widespread in Mexico, rumors were rife in the summer of 1906.

The Liberal Manifesto made clear that the time for action was drawing near. What with the Cananea strike and the anti- foreign aspects of the Programa and Manifesto, rumors spread that a revolt against foreigners in Mexico was in the offing.

Charles Macomb Flandrau, living leisurely on his brother's coffee plantation in Mexico, heard that the lower classes would rise up on Independence Day and kill the foreigners in

Mexico. Flandrau dismissed this rumor as the work of that 20 "pestiferous revolutionary junta in Saint Louis."

To allay what fears the foreigners and their govern­ ments might have about the impending revolt, the Junta wrote to President Theodore Roosevelt on September 12, 1906, explaining their position. Mentioning the "frequent rumors to the effect that the mexican [sic] people will raise up arms to throw foreigners out of our country," the Junta said,

". . . the coming mexican revolution is exclusively against the tyranic [sic] Government of Porfirio Diaz and no harm is contemplated against foreigners in general and Americans in particular. . . ." Enclosing a copy of the Programa, the

Junta'told Roosevelt that the provisions relating to foreigners20

20 Charles Macomb Flandrau, Viva Mexico I (ed. and intro, by C. Harvey Gardiner) (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1964), pp. 193-194. 83 would not be made retroactive. Foreigners and natives would be treated equally in the future, although the Junta thought foreigners should direct their investments into areas of the economy other than land holding. "What Diaz has really done is to place foreigners in danger, because in treating them better than the natives, [he] has made possible bad race feeling, and conflicts between natives and foreigners." The

Junta assured Roosevelt that the revolution was popular and called on the United States not to intervene even though Diaz was certain to call for American help. "Porfirio Diaz will begin by declaring the revolution as a little uprising, of no importance, started by a few discontents, and will then proceed to ask the United States for help to suppress the in­ significant uprising." The Junta reminded Roosevelt that 2 1 Diaz had 60,000 men under arms.

The United States government was not overly concerned by this letter. It was turned over to the Department of

State and Alvey A. Adee, Second Assistant Secretary, sent the

Programa to J.B. Scott of the Department's Solicitor's Office with the suggestion that copies be sent to the Governor of

Missouri and the Department of Justice, saying, "but I don't 21

21 Junta to Roosevelt, Sept. 12, 1906, Dept, of State Records, NA, File, 311.1221. The letter was signed Ricardo Flores Magon, president, and Antonio I. Villarreal, secre­ tary. As neither of these individuals was in St. Louis at the time, however, the authorship of this letter is not definitely known. The English is poor, the typing worse. 84 see that they can do anything to stop the Junta from politi­ cal propaganda." He suggested that Scott have one of his men read the Programa and see if it contained anything inciting 2 2 to the commission of a felony. The very next day Scott answered that he had personally read the document and saw nothing worth transmitting to the Governor of Missouri or to the Department of Justice. Then, in a most revealing para­ graph, Scott wrote:

The reasons for the impending conflict are set forth, in considerable detail. There is nothing in the way of inciting to a felony unless the advice to overthrow the existing government is a felony. It is so against the laws of Mexico, but the laws of Mexico do not obtain here and the party does not seem to use our soil as a basis for a military expedition but solely for the propagation of ideas. "Ideas" have been in times past a felony and may be in Mexico, but they are no longer looked upon here as dangerous although too many of them would doubtless arouse suspicion.23

The Mexican Government most certainly would have

liked to prosecute the Liberals for their "ideas," and both

the United States and Mexico would soon join in prosecuting

them for their actions. Because now the Liberals, with their

Program announced, were ready to take the field against the

dictator. The Junta leaders were prepared to try their hands

as leaders of armed men. Villarreal left St. Louis sometime

in the summer of 1906 for Texas. He crossed the border to *

2? Memorandum, Adee to Scott, Sept. 26, 1906, Dept, of State Records, NA, File 311.1221. 2 % Memorandum, Scott to Adee, Sept. 27, 1906, ibid. 85 circulate the Program and enlist support for the uprising.

Manuel Sarabia also departed St. Louis for Arizona to work among the miners and other Mexican workers in that area, where

Guerrero was also active in building support for the revolu­ tion. Since Bustamante retired from political struggles shortly after the Programa was issued, Rivera was the only officer of the Junta remaining in St. Louis. He continued the publication of Regeneracidn. In late August, Ricardo

Flores Magon and Juan Sarabia left Montreal for St. Louis and then went on to El Paso to take over direction of the impend­ ing revolution. Enrique Flores Magon, who had worked in

Montreal to help pay the travel expenses of the other two, now went to New York City, leaving the movement for about a year. 24

Having clearly stated the goals of the Liberal Party

in the Programa, indicted Diaz in the Manifesto, and with popular unrest evident in Mexico, the Mexican Liberal Party

came to raise the banner of "Reform, Liberty and Justice,"

and liberate Mexico from the tyrant. The magonistas greatly

overestimated their strength in popular support. They under­

estimated Porfirio Diaz. . 1 ; ' : . . 24 24 -Barrera Puentes, Historla de la revolucidn, p. 201; Kaplan, Combatimos la tifania, p. 190; Turner, Ricardo Flores Magon, pp. &4-97; Bustamante wrote a letter dated Sept. 11, 1924, to El^ Demdcrata explaining when he left the movement. It was published Sept. 16, 1924, and stated his praise for the devotion of Rivera to the Flores Magdn movement. CHAPTER IV

THE FAILURE OF A REVOLUTION

"Would to God that we all were united. . . i --Ricardo Flores Magon

After the stormy summer of 1906, the Mexican govern­ ment feared a projected general uprising on September 16,

Mexican Independence Day. Trying not to alarm the populace, the government quietly cancelled many of the traditional celebrations. Whether the general public was aware of an impending threat is doubtful, but rumors circulated widely among foreigners in Mexico. A.A. Graham, an American visitor, inquired about the suppression of the celebrations and found that the government felt the people were in a "rebellious frame of mind" and that certain Mexican refugees in the U- nited States were agitating against the government. He heard rumors about some revolutionary activities in El Paso, 2 but could learn nothing from the Mexican press. *2

*R. Flores Mag6n to Gabriel Rubio, July 27, 1906, United States Department of Justice, General Records, Record Group 74, National Archives, Washington, D.C. (hereafter cited as Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA), File 90755-85. 2 A.A. Graham, Mexico with Comparisons and Conclusions (Topeka, Kansas: Crane § Co., 1907), pp. 153-154. 86 87

The government of Porfirio Diaz knew a great deal more than the residents of the country. Throughout the summer of

1906, it had become more and more obvious that it would not be many months before Ricardo Flores Mag6n and the Mexican Liber­ al Party would attempt to overthrow Diaz. Ill-planned, ill- directed, and a tremendous failure, the Liberal revolt of 1906 was nevertheless a great milestone in the origins of the Re­ volution of 1910. It concluded with most of the leaders of the Partido Liberal behind bars in the United States and in

Mexico.

The Liberal revolt seemed to depend to a great extent on the invasion of Mexico by exiles in the United States.

Groups in the United States were easier to arm than the sup­ porters of the Party in Mexico. It was because of the activi­ ties in connection with the Liberal groups in the United

States that the government of that nation was able to prose­ cute Flores Mag6n and other Liberal leaders successfully for violation of neutrality laws. Ricardo was ultimately con­ victed in Arizona, where the Liberals had probably the least success in 1906, a time of few successes.

The center of Liberal activity in the territory of

Arizona was the border town of Douglas, where the Club Liber­ al was organized in 1905 by Antonio de P. Araujo, Lazaro

Puente, and Tom&s Espinosa. By the summer of 1906, Araujo was no longer in the area, while Espinosa was president of the 88 club and Luis Garcia was secretary.^ The principal targets of the Arizona Liberals, who were, for the most part manual laborers, were to be the Sonora cities of Agua Prieta, Ca- nanea, and Nogales, all close to the border. The Liberal

Junta also named a Yaqui Indian, Javier Guitemea, of Douglas, to be a delegate to the Yaqui tribes in Sonora to try to en­ list their support in the coming revolt.^

Not long after the Cananea strike, the Liberals began to plan the uprising. Flores Mag6n also felt that the after- math of that riot would be to the advantage of the revolu­ tionaries. Concerning that city, he wrote a recent resident asking "in what state of enthusiasm are compatriots of that place. Are they satisfied with the massacre that took place?

Is there no desire to avenge such infamy?"^ Flores Magon ten­ dered a great amount of advice to the Arizona Liberals on how they should carry out the revolt. "We must take into account that we have to grapple with a cunning enemy, and we must also be cunning."^ Ricardo thought the plan by the Liberals in the

Patagonia and Mowry, Arizona, mining camps to take Nogales was

^Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revolucion, p. 203.

^Junta Organizadora to Guitemea, Aug. 31, 1906, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-85.

^R. Flores Magon to Rubip^, July 27, 1906, ibid.

^R. Flores Mag6n to Bruno Trevino, Aug. 18, 1906, ibid. 89 good, but he warned that they should be sure that the hundred men they planned to have would be able to take the town. A false step would be disastrous J He suggested that the Liber­ als in Cananea should study ways to destroy the railroad be­ tween Nogales and Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora, to pre- O vent government reinforcements from reaching the border.

Conscious of the United States' neutrality laws, he caution­ ed that armed men should enter Mexico secretly. Fearing pos­ sible intervention, he stated that Americans should not be 9 attacked. "We must first above all, get rid of our rulers.11

Americans were not to be trusted. "It is well for the North

Americans not to know, about our plans. I am sure that Roose­ velt will do all in his power to prevent the fall of his ally, Diaz. . . ."10

The Liberals in the territory went about the task of gathering arms and ammunition, but Flores Magdn refused to fix a date for the uprising. He claimed there were forty revolutionary branches in Mexico resolved to join the revolt, but not all were as yet armed. The Junta needed money, a ***

7Ibid.

**R. Flores Magon to Rubio, Sept. 2, 1906, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-85.

^R. Flores Magon to Tom&s D. Espinosa, Aug. 2, 1906, ibid. ('There will be ample time afterwards to subdue the foreigners,M "Flores Mag6n wrote. i n UR. Flores Mag6n to Trevino, Aug. 18, 1906. 90 constant problem, to help arm these groups. The revolt, how­ ever, would not be on September 16, "as some malicious news- papers have said." In credentials sent to some of the Ari­ zona Liberals, the Junta stated that the revolution would start on the same day in various places and, once underway, 12 the Junta would be established in Mexico. Flores Magon seemed to sense some of his problems as early as July when he wrote, "Would to God that we all were united . . . to de­ stroy by means of shot the detestable government. ..." But he continued to believe they could destroy the Diaz regime anyway. "The Government is so infamous that men without arms are assassinated, but men with weapons it dreads.

Therefore, we must make it tremble and furthermore, we must

- 1 3 ' demolish it, the wrong must be cut down at the root."

The authorities overwhelmed the Liberal activity in

Arizona before it could even get started. An agent of Gov­ ernor Rafael IzSbel of Sonora, Trinidad V&zquez, later to be the star witness against Flores Magdn, infiltrated the

Douglas club.*^ On the basis of his reports, American of- 12

12 Junta Organizadora to Rubio, Sept. 2, 1906; Junta Organizadora to IldefonsoR. Martinez, Sept. 2, 1906, ibid.

^R. Flores Mag6n to Rubio, July 27, 1906.

"^Barrera Fuentes, Historia de la revoluci6nt p. 203. 91 ficials were alerted and, in turn, notified the Arizona Rangers

In August, the Rangers - began watching-the Liberals1 meeting place, the Halfway House, or what the Mexicans called the Pro

Plata, a building just outside Douglas,.a.few hundred yards from the Mexican border. "I seen quite a number of Mexicans congregating there," said Captain Thomas Rynning, who had led the American forces under Izabel to help put down the Cananea

disturbance earlier in the year. On September 4 and 5, 1906,

Rynning, Ranger Sergeant Arthur Hopkins, deputy sheriff Sam

J . Hayhurst, of Douglas, and others conducted raids that re­

sulted in the apprehension of many of the Liberals, including

Espinosa, Garcia, and Puente. Twelve were finally arrested

in Douglas, and fifty warrants were issued. They confiscated

dynamite, fuses, caps, arms, and ammunition, together with

red flags bearing the Liberal slogan, "Reform, Liberty, and

Justice." On September 2, just a few days before the raids

in Douglas, Ranger IV.A. Olds and others arrested Bruno Tre­

vino and three other Liberals who were to lead the attack on

1C The Arizona Republican (Phoenix), Sept. 5, 1906; The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), Sept.5, 1906; Records of the Supreme Court, National Archives, -Washington, D.C., Ap­ pellate Case No. 211-53, The Matter of the Application of R. Flores Mag6n et al. for a Writ of Habeas Corpus. At the time of his testimony in this case, Rynning was warden of the ter­ ritorial penitentiary at Yuma, Arizona. Hayhurst later became an Arizona Ranger and was involved in the kidnapping of Manuel Sarabia. 92

Nogales at Patagonia. Both raids yielded a great deal of correspondence from Flores Mag6n and the Junta which alerted

Mexican authorities and would later lead to imprisonment of the Liberal leaders in the United States.

The Rangers took the Mexicans arrested in these raids to Tucson, Arizona, for hearings. Espinosa and IIdefonso

Martinez were turned over to the grand jury on the charge of violation of the neutrality laws, and the former was ulti­ mately convicted and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment.

Officials released some of the others, but on September 20,

1906, they deported Trevino, Garcia, Puente, and three others to Mexico for violation of immigration laws. Mexican authorities tried, convicted, and sentenced these men to 1 7 terms in San Juan de UIGa.

Even had the projected revolt in Arizona not proved so abortive, the state of Texas was the principal center of

Liberal activity in 1906. It was to this state that the leadership of the Junta came to direct the revolt. Flores* 17

Ibid. ; The Arizona Daily Star, Sept. 4, 1906; The Arizona Republican, Sept. 6, 1906. The Mexican authorities were so concerned about the threat to Nogales that they force- marched seventy-five cavalry troops from Cananea to Nogales, one trooper dying as a result of this. Ibid. 1 7 . Antonio Maza, Consul at Douglas, to Ignacio Mariscal, Secretario de Gobernacion, Sept. 20, 1906, in Gonzalez Ramirez, ed. , Epistolario y textos, p . 79; Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revoluci6n, pp. 203-204. Several of those deported had been in the United States for some years. Puente claimed to have lived north of the border for thirteen years. 93

Magon, Juan Sarabia, and Antonio I. Villarreal secretly ga­ thered in the home of Lauro Aguirre, a newspaper editor in El

Paso, Texas, sometime in early September. At this point,

Flores Magon and Sarabia drew up a proclamation: "To the

Nation," which adherents distributed to Liberal clubs for issuance when the revolt began. The proclamation explained that in legitimate defense of liberties, rights, and the dignity of the fatherland, which had been trampled under the'briminal despotism of the usurper Porfirio Diaz," the

Liberals were taking up arms against the dictatorship. The rebels would not lay down their arms until the Liberal Party

Program of July 1, 1906, had triumphed. The proclamation went on to list other grievances against Diaz and to state

that until elections were held for a new government, the

only authority that would be recognized would be the Junta

Organizadora del Partido Liberal. The Liberals called on

the officers and soldiers of the National Army to stop

serving the "despicable dictatorship which had dishonored

the fatherland" and, instead, fight for the dignity and

good of the country, not for the personal good of a bloody

despot. If this patriotic appeal should not be enough, the

Liberals also promised those officers who joined their cause

a promotion of two grades in rank, common soldiers would

receive one peso a day, and non-commissioned officers would

get a proportional increase. The Liberals warned foreigners 94 not to intervene. In the interest of their country and their cause they wanted no international conflicts, and the rebels promised every possible protection to the persons and proper­ ties of the foreigners who remained neutral. Those who did 18 not do so could expect no consideration from the Liberals.

Considerable activity preceded the actual outbreak of violence in 1906. Among the activists was Prisciliano G.

Silva, the director of the Liberal group in El Paso, and the man who had made contact with the Junta in St. Louis. Agui­ rre, an old opponent of the Diaz government, published a news­ paper called La Reforma Social and was erroneously thought by the authorities to be the leader of magonista activity in El

Paso. Another important Liberal leader on the border was

Crescencio Villarreal Marquez of Del Rio, Texas. Marquez al­ so published a paper, The 1810, and had met Flores Mag6n in

Laredo in 1904, when the Liberal leader first entered the country. The Junta had named Mcirquez a delegate to work for the Party in the state of Coahuila. In the course of this work, he contacted the Liberal group in the town of Jimenez in that state, which was headed by Dimas Dominguez. He also helped18 *

18 Text of proclamation in Candido Donato Padua, Movi- miento revolucionario 1906 en Veracruz, 2nd ed. (Tlailpan, D.F.: n.p., 1941, pp. 21-23).

^Librado Rivera, footnote in Abad de Santill&n, Ri­ cardo Flores Magon, p . 21. 95 send arms to Jimenez, the city where the first Liberal assault would be made. Villarreal himself had preceded the other

Junta leaders to Texas, crossing the border at Del Rio to.-dis­ tribute the Liberal Program and to encourage support in Chi- huahua, Coahuila, and Sonora.20

The always-pressing problem of finances hampered the

Liberal preparations for the revolution. The Junta constantly needed money to purchase arms and ammunition. One of the people to whom it turned for assistance was the wealthy hacen- dado, Francisco I. Madero, the onetime supporter of Flores

Magdn and Regeneracion, who was already having grave doubts about the Liberals. In August, he wrote Marquez questioning the motives of the Liberals. If they were planning a democra­ tic campaign, said Madero, the time was not right; further­ more, they should be in the country. Bit if their goal was

revolution, Madero believed there was absolutely no cause for

this and in the present circumstances it would be unpatriot- 21 ic. Later, according to Flores Hagon, Silva went to see

Madero to ask his aid in the planned revolution. Madero was 2021

20 Summary of testimony of Hcirquez at extradition pro­ ceedings against Juan Jose Arredondo in December, 1906, con­ tained in Charles A. Boynton, U.S. Attorney, Western District of Texas, to Attorney General, April 23, 1907, Dept, of Jus­ tice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-120794. Marquez left Del Rio on Sept. 17, 1906, for Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, to continue preparations for the revolution. 21 Madero to M&rquez, Aug. 17, 1906, Epistolario (1900- 1909) , pp. 165-166. 96 shocked by talk of revolution, saying he thought it was a "crime to stain the country in blood for personal ambition." The fu­ ture hero of the Revolution said he thought Diaz was harsh, but not a tyrant; and even if he were a tty• rant, he -- Madero

-- would never assist a revolution because he had a true 2 2 horror of spilling blood.

September 16, 1906, the date prophesied by many for the uprising, came and went, with no Liberal revolt. The first actual assault came ten days later at Jimenez, Coahuila.

Juan Jos6 Arredondo, who had been commissioned a colonel by

MSrquez, acting for the Junta, was the leader. With a force of about sixty men, Arredondo seized the customs house and looted it and the town treasury of about $100, giving a receipt in the name of the Junta. In the attack, a young rebel named Almaraz lost his life, "the first victim of the

Mexican Revolution."^ The attackers withdrew the next morn­ ing and were then attacked themselves by federal troops while they were attempting to get supplies at the Hacienda "Victor­ ia" nearby. After further fighting, additional federal troops were able to kill, capture, or disperse the remainder of the *23

22- RegeneraciSn, Mar. 4, 1911, reprinted in Flores Magon, Semilla libertaria, I, p. 128. 23 Testimony of M&rquez, Boynton to Attorney General, April 23, 1907.

^Alfonso Taracena, El^ vida en el vertigo de la revolu­ tion mexicana (Mexico: n.p., 1936), p. 48. 97 rebels. Most fled across the border and into the United

States.^5

The Mexican government immediately labeled the attack on Jimenez as the work of outlaws. The receipt given in the name of the Junta was merely a novel method employed by the bandits, and Diaz said the "affair has no political signifi- o cance." In less than a month, Balbino Davalos, Mexican charge d'affaires in Washington, submitted the names of Arre­ dondo and sixty-five others to the Department of State, asking that they be held for extradition proceedings on the charges 2 7 of robbery and murder. These proceedings began December 18,

1906, in San Antonio, Texas, before United States Commissioner

Robert Neil. It was a significant victory for the Liberals when Arredondo and the others brought before the Commissioner were freed on January 5, 1907. Neil ruled that the offenses of which the defendants were accused were of a political nature

and therefore not subject to extradition. In the face of this 25*27

25 Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revolucibn, p . 204.

"Wire from American Ambassador Thompson cited in Root to Attorney General, Oct. 4, 1906, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Gr. 74, NA, File 90755-91037. 27 Davalos to Root, Oct. 24, 1906, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-92147. The promptness of this request would indicate that the Mexican authorities had detailed information on the Liberal supporters in both Mexico and the United States. 98 decision, the Mexican government withdrew the same charges 2 8 against several others, including Mdrquez.

The next Liberal uprising could not be so easily dis­ missed as an act of banditry, although the fighting took place far from the United States border and consequently this revolt did not receive the publicity which accompanied border raids.

The revolts occurred in the state of Veracruz, where Hilario

C . Salas directed most of the very considerable Liberal activi­ ty. In 1905, in response to the formation of the Junta Or- ganizadora in St. Louis, two active clubs were formed in Vera­ cruz, the Club Vicente Guerrero of Chinameca and the Club

Valentin Gomez Farias in Puerto Mexico. Government authori­ ties constantly harassed Liberal activities in Veracruz, often breaking up meetings and arresting known Liberals.

Under all these adversities the Veracruz Liberals continued to make plans to join the general uprising in the fall of

1906. Candido Donato Padua, a participant and historian of the Veracruz revolt, said that late in September, 1906, Salas received word from the Junta that the revolt would be post­ poned until early 1907. Salas reacted to this information by issuing the proclamation calling for hostilities which he had received earlier in September from El Paso. Perhaps Salas *

28 Boynton to Attorney General, April 23, 1907. 99 believed that if he were successful the rest of the country 29 would follow him into a general revolt.

The Liberals in Veracruz raised an army of about 1,000 men, many of the troops being dispossessed Indians fighting to regain their communal lands. Salas divided this force into three groups. In a coordinated attack Salas would lead the attack on Acayucan, Enrique Novoa would take Minatitlan, and

Juan Alfonso and RomSn Marin were responsible for taking Puerto

Mexico. The attacks were planned for 11 o'clock on the night of September 30. Due to poor leadership, only the attack on

Acayucan got under way on schedule. Salas led his force into

Acayucan with considerable success in heavy fighting. Leading

an assault on the palacio municipal. however, Salas was wound­

ed; deprived of their leader, the untrained forces withdrew

from the city. Novoa, apparently in no hurry to carry out

his part of the plan, did not advance close to Minatitlan until

the next day. Before he reached the city, federal forces came

out to attack his army, thus effecting the dispersal of the

rebels. The force under Alfonso and Marin was also delayed, as

the two leaders quarreled. By the time they reached Puerto

Mexico, additional federal forces arriving by sea had shored up 29

29 Padua, Movimiento revolucionario 1906, pp. 23-24; Las luchas proletarias, pp. 25-26; Charles C. Cumberland, "Pre­ cursors of the Mexican Revolution of 1910," Hispanio American Historical Review, Vol. XXII, No. 2 (May, 1942), pp. 347-348; Teodoro Hernandez, La historia de la revolucidn debe ha- cerse (Mexico: n.p., 1950), pp. 55-56. 100 the defenses of the city enough to prevent an attack. For the next several days federal troops carried the fighting to what remained of the three revolutionary forces, killing, captur­ ing, or sending them fleeing back into the hills; and, ad­ ditionally, government troops destroyed a number of Indian villages in reprisal.3® Most of the leaders, together with other participants in the revolt, were sentenced to terms in

San Juan de Ultia. Of the principal leaders, only Salas escaped capture.3*

Meanwhile, the Mexican government and its supporters were keenly interested in suppressing the Liberal movement at

the top. Most of the members of the Junta were no longer

in St. Louis, but Regeneracion had continued publication there.

In September, the second epoch of that paper ended. St. Louis

authorities seized the property of the Liberals, including

presses, papers, letters, lists of agents, and the like. The

authority for this action stemmed from a court order result­

ing from a libel suit brought by William C. Greene, president

of the Cananea Consolidated Copper Company. Certainly no

friend of the Liberals, Greene brought suit following an ar­

ticle in the July 15 issue of Regeneracidn in which the mining 3130

30 Padua, Movimiento revolucionario 1906, pp. 23-25. 31 Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revolucion, p . 242. This author gives a list of Liberals confined to the Veracruz fortress prison. 101 executive had been accused of bribing Governor Izabel of

Sonora to exonerate Americans of all responsibility for any- 32 thing that happened during the Cananea strike.

Not content with shutting down the presses, the au­ thorities arrested Librado Rivera in early October. Rivera was the last Junta officer in St. Louis and most of the other

Liberals and sympathizers in that city were in hiding. United

States immigration officials held Rivera as the Mexican gov­ ernment sought his extradition on the charges of robbery and murder while being a leader of the Cananea strike. One night,

Rivera was taken from jail and placed on a train bound, he believed, for Mexico. He was taken off the train at Irontown,

Missouri, and held incommunicado in the jail there for three weeks. Apparently, the Mexican authorities were trying to come up with evidence for some new charges, realizing they could not support the patently false accusations regarding Cananea.

The St. Louis Post Dispatch and the St. Louis Globe Democrat vigorously attacked this persecution, perhaps saving Rivera

from an expense-paid trip home to Mexico. A public hearing was held on November 30, 1906, before James R. Gray, United

States Commissioner at St. Louis, at which time Rivera was 32

32 i Martinez Nunez, La vida heroica, p. 81; article in El Diario del Hogar, Sept. 19, 1906, cited in Brown, "The Mexican Liberals," p. 350 102 freed as the "offense complained of was entirely of a politi­ cal nature.

The Liberal Junta, despite the failures in Arizona,

Coahuila, and Veracruz, went on busily plotting the revolt in

El Paso. The activities did not long go unnoticed. Through informers, Enrique Creel, governor of the bordering state of

Chihuahua, learned of the increased activity in El Paso. On

October 4, 1906, he wired Diaz that an active revolutionary

center directed by Lauro Aguirre was operating in El Paso. He

said they held meetings nightly and he believed that either

Magon or Sarabia was hiding there. He also believed that

General JosS Marla de la Vega should move his troops to Ciudad

Ju&rez.^ Diaz responded by having De la Vega move to the

border city with about one hundred troops. Creel then wrote

that the jefe politico of Ciudad JuSrez believed Flores MagSn

had been in El Paso since mid-September. He also mentioned

that a St. Louis detective agency was trying to help appre­

hend the Liberals.^ *3533

33 Rivera to Manuel Tellez, Mexican Ambassador to the U.S., June 12, 1921, in Por la libertad de Ricardo Flores MagSn companeros presos en Estados Unidos del Norte (Mexico: Comite de agitacidn por la libertad de Ricardo Flores Magon y com­ paneros presos en Estados Unidos del Norte, 1922), pp. 85-95; John Kenneth Turner, Barbarous Mexico (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr S Co., 1911), p. 273,

•7 A ^Abad de Santill&n, Ricardo Flores Magdn, p. 21.

35Ibid., p. 22. 103

The Liberal revolutionists planned to blow up the

army barracks and possibly several public buildings in Ciudad

Juarez in order to take control of the town. They would also

attempt to destroy the railroad between Ciudad Judrez and Chi­

huahua city. The plans were changed somewhat when the Liber­

als were led to believe that the army would cooperate with

them. Upon his arrival in Ciudad Ju&rez, General De la Vega

sent Captain Adolfo Jimenez Castro and Lieutenant Zeferino

Reyes to infiltrate the movement. The Liberal proclamation

had called for army support, and as the revolutionists needed

all the help they could get, the two officers were quickly

taken into complete confidence. When Jimenez Castro and

Reyes promised to lead the troops over to the Liberal side,

destroying the barracks was no longer considered necessary.

De la Vega and Francisco Mallen, the Mexican Consul in El *

Paso, were kept up to date on all these plans as well as

being informed of the difficulties the Liberals were having

in acquiring arms and ammunition for their revolt.

Consequently, just before the Liberals were to at­

tack, probably on October 21, the authorities struck. El

Paso police arrested Antonio I. Villarreal, Lauro Aguirre, and

J . Cano, the chief contrabandist, on October 19. The next 36

36 °E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores Magon, pp. 104-105 ; for discussion of defense of Juan Sarabia, see Padua, Movi- miento revolucionario 1906, pp. 45-46. 104 day, across the Rio Grande in Ciudad JuSrez, the three ring­ leaders on that side, Juan Sarabia, Cesar Canales, and Vi­ cente de la Torre, were apprehended. Numerous other con­ spirators were also captured on both sides of the border.

The most important got away: Ricardo Flores Magbn, who had been hiding in the home of Modesto Diaz, narrowly escaped capture before he and Diaz were able to get on a train and 3 7 out of town.

Creel kept Porfirio Diaz well informed about the ar­ rests of the Liberals. Wires were exchanged with great fre­ quency until finally, on October 30, Creel proudly informed his President that Chihuahua had been cleared of conspira- 38 tors. . Yet Creel and the Mexican authorities realized the seriousness of Flores Magon’s escape when the Furlong

Secret Service Company submitted a complete report on the

Liberals to the Governor on October 28, 1906. The report

stated that Flores Magon, Sarabia, and Villarreal were fana­

tics against the dictatorship. Ricardo was labeled an

anarchist, being without a doubt the most dangerous of the

rebels, and fully capable of leading a revolution. If the

government could capture him, the Liberal movement would be 3738

37 R. Flores Magon to "Weinberger, May 9, 1921, in Flores Mag6n, Epistolario revolucionario, III, pp. 66-79; E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores Magon, p . 107.

38See reprints of this exchange in El^ Demdcrata, Sept. 1 and Sept. 6, 1924. 105 crushed because Ricardo was the "soul of everything and with- 39 out him the others could do nothing."

The Mexican government offered a reward of $20,000 for the capture of Flores Mag6n. Authorities of both the

United States and Mexico made intensive efforts to capture the Liberal leader in the months following the escape from

El Paso. The first effort was made in St. Louis. The

Mexican government asked if it would be acceptable for the

Furlong Secret Service Company, at their expense, to assist in the arrest of Flores Magon.^ The United States agreed and the Department of Justice’s attorney in St. Louis wired that every effort was being made by officers of his depart­ ment, the Post Office Department, the Furlong Company, and the Mexican Consul to locate Flores Magon.^* Officers of 39

39 Reports printed in E_1 Democrata, Sept. 4, 1924. This report was filled out by Ansel T. Samuels, an operative of the Furlong Company, who had worked for Regeneracion for a few months selling advertising. He characterized Enrique Flores Magon as inferior to his brother, both intellectually and in courage. Juan Sarabia was described as an excellent and facile writer, "but a man of less importance than Ricardo Flores Mag6n"; Villarreal, he said, was one of the most active and in the complete confidence of Ricardo, the last being most doubtful, given the later course of the magonista move­ ment .

^Davalos to Root, Nov. 6, 1906, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-93061.

^David P. Dyer to Henry M. Hoyt, Acting Attorney Gen­ eral, Nov. 6, 1906, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-92649. The St. Louis Postmaster Flores Magon had come to recognize as an opponent. On the last day of August he 106 the Department of Justice were kept busy in the coming months as the Mexican.government supplied-new.leads on the whereabouts of the elusive Flores Magon... . In early-November , D^valos told

United States authorities Ricardo was reported to be in El

Paso; in November, he was said to be at Smithville, Texas, a small town east of Austin, and in January, the Mexicans reported both Flores Magons were expected soon in New York City from

Canada.Justice agents followed up all these leads, but to no avail. The Mexican information system for once broke down.

Exactly where Flores Mag6n_was all this time is not com­ pletely clear. He and Modesto Diaz fled El Paso together and probably went directly to Los Angeles. Once there, they found shelter with a Liberal sympathizer, a bookstore operator. Flores

Mag6n reportedly narrowly escaped capture when seen by police in mid-November. He moved to the home of another Liberal, hiding until January 18, 1907, when he thought he was again under sur­ veillance. Legend has it that Ricardo escaped capture on this oc­ casion by leaving the house disguised as a woman. That very day he left for San Francisco, and the pursuit continued. With

$20,000 offered for his capture, Ricardo said "the secret22 * wrote one of the Arizona Liberals to keep the St. Louis address a secret, "for the Postmaster [there] is our enemy and a miser­ able lackey of Porfirio Diaz." R. Flores Magon to Espinose, Aug. 31, 1906, ibid. , File 90755-85.

^^D&valos to Root, Nov. 12, 1906, Dec. 12, 1906, Jan, 22, 1907, ibid., 90755-93412, 95418, 98396, respectively. 107

service of two nations pursued me from one place to another,

from city to city. It was a question of life or death for me, because my arrest meant my immediate passage to Mexico

and assassination there without any appearance of justice."

In flight and in hiding, Ricardo said he sometimes went two

or three days without eating. From San Francisco, Flores r

Magdn went to Sacramento and in the California capital he

was later joined by Villarreal.^

In the meantime, Villarreal had been having many prob­

lems of his own. After the arrests in El Paso, the Mexican

government was most anxious to have the secretary of the

Liberal Junta returned to Mexico. Realizing they would be

unable to obtain the extradition of Villarreal, the Mexicans

hoped to have him deported for violation of the United States

immigration laws. Mexico contended he had been earlier im­

prisoned for a felony in Nuevo Leon, thereby entering the

United States illegally. The United States had charges of

violating the neutrality laws pending against Villarreal after

his arrest. The United States Attorney in Texas pointed out

^R. Flores Magdn to Nicolas T. Bernal, Oct. 30, 1920, in Flores Magon, Epistolario revolucionario, I, p. 16; E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores Magon, pp. 107, 113-114. As Flores Magdn had an ample mustache from at least as early as 1902, the thought of his escaping capture dressed as a woman is certainly intriguing. 108 that if the immigration authorities recommended the deporta­ tion of Villarreal, and the charge of violating the neutrality laws was still pending against the Mexican, "he will insist on pleading guilty to same as he would prefer the three years in a United States Penitentiary to^returning to Mexico.

Upon the request of the Mexican government, the neu­ trality case was dismissed on February 25, 1907, and Villa­ rreal was turned over to the immigration authorities at El

Paso to be deported to Mexico. On the way back to the coun­ ty jail after this decision, Villarreal escaped. Mexican authorities immediately offered a reward for the fugitive and supplied United States officials with descriptive circu­ lars.^ From El Paso, Villarreal made his way first to Santa

Fe, New Mexico, then to Denver, Colorado, and, finally, to

Sacramento, California, where he was reunited with Ricardo.

Despite the few remaining at large, the Mexican of­ ficials were able to bring to trial the Liberals whom they had arrested in Chihuahua, including Juan Sarabia, Canales, and De la Torre. Porfirio Diaz took an eager interest in these cases, telling Governor Creel that he should "tell the judge that this case is exceptional." When Diaz was not45 44

44 Boynton to Attorney General, Nov. 20, 1906, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-93933.

45Ibid., Mar. 2, 1907, File 90755-103975.

4^E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores Mag6n, pp. 113-114. 109 satisfied the authorities in Chihuahua could handle this case satisfactorily, he sent a friend, Judge Esteban Maqueo Caste­ llanos, to preside over the proceedings there.^ The Liberals were charged with murder, robbery, insults to the President, and attempting to incite a rebellion when the trial began in

Chihuahua in January, 1907.

Sarabia, vice-president of the Junta and the most in- portant captive, made his own defense and performed biilliant- ly. He denied the first three charges, but did not deny his part in the attempted rebellion. "There is a case when re­ bellion is not a crime, but a privilege of the citizen, and this is when it is exercised, not against a legally consti­ tuted government, but against an illegitimate and usurping one." Article 35 of the Constitution of 1857, Sarabia said, expresses the right of "Mexican citizens to take arms in de­ fense of the Republic and its institutions." He then asked if the rebellion in which he took part was "directed against a legal and democratic government, or against a despotic vio­ lator of republican institutions." Sarabia answered his own question in attacking Diaz and his dictatorial regime. He said Diaz had such absolute power that he would be envied by the Autocrat of all the Russians. "The people are nothing,

^See exchanges between Diaz and Creel reprinted in El Democrata, Sept. 1, Sept. 7, and Sept. 10, 1924. 110 48 the Republic a sarcasm, the institution a corpse."

The trial's outcome could.not have surprised many.

Sarabia, Canales, and De la Torre were-sentenced to seven years in San Juan de Ulua. Others caught in.the conspiracy received sentences of from six months to three years; many were also sent to the fortress prison.What with the arrests in Arizona,

Veracruz, and Chihuahua in 1906, and deportations and trials that followed, by the first months of 1907 the greatest concentration of Liberal strength was in Veracruz harbor.

Not all the Liberals sent to.San Juan de UlOa as a result of the 1906 uprising were from.outlying-regions; although revolt never threatened the capital, its repercussions were felt there. El Colmillo PCblico, the satirical opposition journal, was permanently suppressed. Its director.and brilliant artist,

Jesfis Martinez Carrion, was arrested. Sent first to Belen prison, Martinez Carridn, elderly and in poor health, was removed to a private hospital, but he soon died. *49

4 8 Padua, Movimiento revolucionario 1906, pp. 36-50. 49 Barrera Puentes, Historia de la.revolucidn, pp. 240- 242; interview, Judge Castellanos in El Democrata, Sept. 12, 1924. He recalled that of 122 tried in Chihuahua, only 17 were sentenced, and said he believed Sarabia was sincerely convinced a revolution was needed. He praised Sarabia, Canales, and De la Torre, but, of course, in 1924, he still had to try to overcome the stigma of being a Diaz associate. Attorneys for many of the Liberals after imprisonment were thw two well-known Mexico City Liberal lawyers--Serralde, and Jesds Flores (note continued) Ill

The government also arrested the administrator of the paper,

Federico PSrez Fern&ndez, who ultimately joined the other

Liberals in San Juan de Ultia. Besides the Liberal revolt, there was another reason for suppressing El^ Colmillo Pfiblico:

Its presses had been publishing a radical journal, La Revolu- ci6n Social, for the textile workers in the Orizaba, Veracruz, area, where violence was to develop soon.*’®

The Rio Blanco strike cannot really be considered a part of the attempted Liberal revolution of 1906 in that it . did not develop in the hopes of overthrowing the government; yet Liberal propaganda played an important role in arousing the workers, and the strike came so soon after the suppression of the revolt that it may well be considered a part of the growing resistance to the iron hand of the dictatorship. The state of Veracruz had long been something of a Liberal strong­ hold, dating back to Camilo Arriaga's efforts in 1900. Further proof of this came in the Liberal attack on Acayucan in the

fall of 1906. In the summer of that year, the Gran Circulo

de Obreros Libres had been formed among some textile workers

in the area around Orizaba. Other secret clubs grew out of 3

Magon. See Canales to his father, J. Canales de la Fuente, Feb. 21, 1907, in El Dem6crata. Sept. 13, 1924.

^Interview with Alfonso Cravioto, El DemGcrata, Sept. 2, 1924; interview with Perez Fernandez, ibid., Sept. 3, 1924. 112 this organization in the textile centers of the area, including those in the states of Puebla and Tlaxcala. The organizations recognized the leadership of the Junta Organizadora and cir­ culated Regeneraci6n among the workers. The Liberal Programa y Manifesto of July 1, 1906, was also clandestinely circulated among the mill workers. El Colmlllo PGblico not only was secretly sent into the textile areas but also used its presses to publish the paper of the workers there, La Revolucion So­ cial . Thus, although all three of these periodicals had been suppressed by the time the trouble developed. Liberal ideas had had a wide dissemination; moreover, leading Liberals, such as Jose Neira, Juan A. Olivares, and Manuel Avila, were active­ ly engaged in agitation among the mill workers at R£o Blanco and the other mills in the Orizaba area.

Certainly Liberal propaganda would fall on eager ears in the Mexican textile regions. Thirteen-hour work days were standard in the mills. Wages were about forty cents a day for men, up to two dollars a week for women, and ten to twenty- five cents a day for children, some of whom were seven or eight years old. Exorbitant rents, based on the salaries paid, were charged for the company-owned houses. To make matters worse, the companies often paid in script, redeemable only at the tiendas de raya, or company stores. No work regulations were

in effect; the owners had complete liberty of action to ex­ ploit their employees. When the owners became aware of secret 113 meetings among the workers and of the circulation of Liberal propaganda, they became more oppressive, and subsequently the management would not allow the workers to receive visitors.

The owners eagerly sought the names of the leaders of the

Obreros Libres, with jail awaiting those discovered.

To counteract the. budding union activity, near the

end of November, 1906, the owners of the industries, who worked collectively through the Centro Industrial Mexicano, presented the workers in Puebla and Tlaxcala with a projected

set of regulations for the industry which called for, among

other things, a wage cut. Cotton products had fallen in price, said the owners. The workers in the two states respond­

ed by going out on strike on December 4. Then, on December

9, in further response to the regulations proposed by the

owners, the workers at Puebla, led by Pascual Mendoza, submit­

ted their own regulations for consideration. Essentially, the

workers wanted shorter hours, higher wages, safer working con­

ditions, and the end of company stores.^ The owners received

these proposals, but ignored them. The industrialists decided

that the best way to handle the strike would be simply to out-

vat the workers. They could starve them into submission. The

*^Text of proposed regulations in Fernando Rodarte, 1_ de^ Enero de 1907: Puebla-Orizaba (Mexico: A. del Bosque, 1940), pp. 11-17. 114 economic resources of the textile workers could not sustain a long strike.

What worked against this plan of action, however, was the great solidarity exhibited by the Mexican textile workers.

The workers in the other states, rather than go out on strike themselves, collected funds from their own meager earnings to support the strikers in Puebla and Tlaxcala. Labor groups in the Orizaba area were particularly effective in the endeavor.

When it realized what was happening, the Centro Industrial

Mexicano showed there was also solidarity on the management side. On December 22, all textile mills in the states of

Puebla, Veracruz, Tlaxcala, Jalisco, Queretaro, and the Feder­ al District were shut down. The workers were locked out, some 30,000 around Orizaba alone. Most of them countered by declaring themselves on strike, but they could not win un­ less they received some outside help. They turned to the

President of the Republic, the highest power in Mexico, for help. A representation of workers went to the President and he agreed to investigate the controversy and make a settle­ ment. Porfirio Diaz disclosed his findings to the workers' committee on January 4, 1907, ordering all mills reopened and all workers back to work on the following Monday, January

7. By and large, the dictator supported the owners on every point at issue. His benevolence may be seen in the section of his regulations which prohibited work in the textile mills 115 5 2 for children under seven years of age.

Unable to hope for anything better, the workers' com­ mittee members returned to their respective areas, hoping only that the clash might somehow lead to better relations with the mill owners in the future. On January 7, the mills reopened and the workers returned, with the one exception of the huge mill at Rio Blanco. On the morning the workers were to return there, they learned that one of their number, a woman, was thrown out of the company store for trying to get food without script. Other workers, many of whom were hungry as a result of the shutdown, also went to the store to try to get provisions. They, too, were turned down by the Frenchman who managed the store. At this point, someone suggested to the workers who had congregated in front of the store that they take the food. Acting on this suggestion, the workers rioted, looted the store, and then set fire to it. The fac­ tory directors immediately called on some federal troops in the area and the local police to put down the riot. These forces shot down many of the workers, but there were not enough police or troops to control the enraged mob, which next directed its attention to the palacio municipal; this was successfully stormed. Armed only with sticks and stones, and

^Text of Diaz report, ibid., pp. 20-23. 116 suffering many losses, the workers began to abandon the town and to march off toward the nearby village of Nogales, only to be attacked by more government forces there. Disorganized and leaderless, the angry workers for some reason decided to return to Rio Blanco to assist their comrades who had been jailed. They were met by Colonel Rosalino Martinez at the head of a large force of federal troops, which had arrived from Veracruz and Puebla to put down the riot. There follow­ ed a horrible massacre. Men, women, and children were merci­ lessly shot down in the streets. They were tracked into the hills and shot. The bloodletting spread over the four small towns of Rio Blanco, Nogales, Santa Rosa, and San Lorenzo.

Nobody knew how many were ultimately killed in the matanza of

Rio Blanco. Estimates range from 200 to 800. Some workers were able to bury their relatives and friends. Untold numbers of bodies were loaded on flatcars, taken to Veracruz, and dumped into the sea -- "anonymous heroes of our social strug­ gles."53

After the slaughter, many of the workers who survived were imprisoned or impressed into the army. Also, many known

Liberals who had nothing to do with the riot were imprisoned.

The remainder of the workers went back to the mills at the same wages and same hours as before. The only difference now 5*

5 3 Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revolucion, p. 222. 117 was that the soldiers stayed and virtually became part of the factory. Rio Blanco was not to be repeated. The government made every effort to conceal what happened at Rio Blanco, but such a massacre could not be hidden. News got out and the nation was shocked. The publicity earned the workers their only victory. The company store at Rio Blanco was abolished. The price in blood for this victory was tremendous, but Rio Blanco was another step forward, and a significant one, in the growing disenchantment with the dictatorship. It was a signal event in the history of the Mexican labor movement, and it encouraged a more receptive audience for the message of the Mexican Liberal Party. Maybe something was wrong with

Mexico.

In March, 1907, after the Liberal uprisings of 1906 and the horror of Rio Blanco, the new Mexican Ambassador to the United States and former governor of Chihuahua, Enrique

Creel, wrote concerning the revolutionary activity: "The undertaking is of course fantastical and highly ridiculous; it has not found and never will find any support among the people of Mexico who are content with the administration of

On the Rio Blanco strike, see Agetro, Las luchas proletarias, pp. 41-47; Barrera Puentes, Historia de la reyolu- cion , pp. 213-223; Rodarte, J7 de Enero de 1907, passim.; J. K. Turner, Barbarous Mexico, pp. 197-206; Alfonso Lopez Aparicio, El movimiento obrero en Mexico, 2nd ed. (Mexico: Editorial Jus, 1958), pp. 145-148; Jestis Romero Flores, Anales historicos de la revolucion Mexicana, Vol. I, Del porfirismo a la revolucion constitucionalista (Mexico: Libro Mex Editores, 1959) , pp. 55-65. 118

General Diaz and fare well under the sound and prosperous re­ gime it has mapped out." Creel was writing to the Department of State to complain about the activities of the magonistas; he said his government could not consider them as political offenders. He talked about Regeneracibn, which he said was concerned only with insulting Diaz, other officials, and promi­ nent private persons. "The Government of Mexico paid no at­ tention whatever to those publications," Creek wrote, ignor­ ing the fact that Diaz himself had called in the United States

Ambassador less than a year earlier to talk about Regeneracion.

He had also asked the United States to return the heavily marked copies of the paper he lent the Ambassador.

Creel said Flores Magon was at present pursuing two principal objectives: "First, to satisfy his evil passions against the Mexican Government; second, to obtain money from the incautious and from depraved or deluded persons in order to maintain himself in the United States." He also said

"Flores Magon and his followers have nothing that can be

called a political plan. . .," which must illustrate the

government view of the Liberal Party Program of July 1, 1906.

In this very lengthy report on the Flores Mag6n movement,

Creel said that "Among all the facts to which I have just re­

ferred there is nothing which causes the slightest alarm to my Government, since nothing which resembles a revolution can

rationally prosper." Yet the activities of the magonistas,

the Ambassador continued, were disagreeable and hurt relations 119 between Mexico and the United States. This, in turn, would likely hurt the favorable climate for American investments in

Mexico should Flores Magon be allowed to continue his as- 55 saults on the government.

This last point may or may not have made a great im­ pression on Secretary of State Elihu Root, but he promptly wrote the Attorney General, Charles J. Bonaparte; uOur rela­ tions with Mexico are exceedingly friendly, and it is of great importance to the United States, as well as to Mexico, that they should continue so." Root went on to say it in­ jured the United States to have its territory used for plot­ ting, not only revolutions, but the assassination of Presi­ dent Diaz. He felt this should be prevented if it were prac- r ticable to take legal proceedings against the offenders.

Flores Mag6n did not realize he was of such concern

to Mexico or that he would soon be facing the legal proceed­

ings Root suggested. He and the other Liberal fugitives

could look back on an eventful but disappointing year. Por-

firio Diaz had Survived 1906 without apparent loss of strength.

^Creel to Root, Mar. 4, 1907, Dept; of State Rec., NA, File 311.1211.

^Root to Attorney General, April 11, 1907, Dept, of State Rec., NA, File 311.1221. The assassination threat Root referred to came from a copy of EJ^ Progreso of San Antonio, Texas, in the issue of March 16, 1907, which the Mexican gov­ ernment had brought to the attention of the Department of State. It had a cartoon picturing a dagger over the head of Diaz. The paper also contained this message to Diaz: "If 120

The Liberal cause, in contrast, was in disarray. Many of the Party's most able members were in prison. Years later, in a letter to a friend in Oakland, California, Flores Magon ex­ pressed some of his feelings about this turbulent year. "San

Francisco ought to be beautiful now. I lived there in 1907, when a large part of the city was in ruins, and my revolu­ tionary plans in Mexico were also in ruins. I hid my sorrows among the ruins. . . ." He did not hide his sorrows long.

Within a few months, Ricardo Flores Magon was actively back in the struggle. He would reorganize his forces to try once again to bring down the dictator. *57

Juan Sarabia dies in prison, we will kill you. Ricardo Flores Magon, the Scorpion." This was Flores Magon pseudonym from his days on the staff of E_1 Hi jo del Ahuizote.

57R. Flores Magon to Bernal, Oct. 30, 1920, in Flores Mag6n, Epistolario revolucionario, I, p. 16. CHAPTER V

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA VERSUS RICARDO FLORES MACON

". . . the spirit of fair dealing and international courtesy of the Mexican Government having been well illustrated by its conduct in the recent Sarabia case. ..."

-- Charles J . Bonaparte1

The last months of 1906 had been disastrous for the hopes of Ricardo Flores Magon and the Mexican Liberal Party

The worst was yet to come. After the attempted revolt, the

Liberal leaders were to be pursued as they had never been

pursued before. Flores Magon was barely able to begin the

reorganization of his forces to instigate new armed upris­

ings against the Mexican government before he was finally

apprehended. Against a determined defense, the United

States Department of Justice displayed equal determination

and perseverance in trying to eliminate Flores Magon and

his associates as a keen source of annoyance, embarrassment

and even positive danger to both the governments of Mexico

and the United States. Success in removing the threat was

1Charles J . Bonaparte, Attorney General, to J.L.B. Alexander, Jan. 24, 1908, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp., NA, File 90755-126960.

121 122

limited, but Flores Mag6n was personally incarcerated until virtually the eve of the Mexican Revolution. This was un­ doubtedly to be a factor in the lack of success of the magonistas once the Mexican Revolution gat underway.

In early 1907, Flores Magon got word to friends and supporters that he was still in the struggle. He and An­ tonio T. Villarreal sent out a circular letter from their hiding-place in California. The letter reviewed the Liber­

al failures of 1906, failures attributed to betrayals. The r embittered revolutionaries also had new enemies to attack.

The trouble with authorities in the United States made

President Theodore Roosevelt an opponent who ranked not far behind Porfirio Diaz. The "connivance of the White House with the traitor president of Mexico" meant only that the

Liberals had to double their efforts. There was no inten­

tion of giving up the struggle. The Liberals, however,

needed funds to reestablish Regeneraci6n, which had to bring

the Liberal position to the oppressed people of Mexico to

triumph over the dictator. Money and letters from friends 7 of the Liberals were to be sent to an address in Texas.

Flores Mag6n was convinced that traitors destroyed

the Liberal plans in 1906. He expressed these beliefs to

2 Text of circular letter in Abad de SantillSn, Ricardo Flores Magon. pp. 34-38. 123 both Tomas Sarabia, Manuel's brother, and Antonio de P.Araujo in the spring of 1907. These men were two of the most active

Liberals in Texas, and Flores Magon expressed the belief that the traitor or traitors were also in Texas, either in Del Rio or San Antonio.^ By this time, he was not even trusting his friends. He cautioned Sarabia to disclose plans or communica­ tions to no one.^ He then warned Araujo not to disclose even the most insignificant detail to anyone, including Sarabia.^

Ricardo, by 1907, was also beginning to realize that some of the most important early Liberal leaders and supporters would not support him in a revolution. To his mind, a principal cause of the failures of 1906 arose from the fact that the several Liberal groups did not have sufficient arms and am­ munition, This might not have been the case had only a few more wealthy individuals, such as Francisco I. Madero, lent financial support. In the letter to Araujo, Ricardo blamed

Camilo Arriaga, who evidently did not approve of the revolts in 1906, for the defection of Madero. "Madero was a good friend of mine," Flores Magon wrote, until his former close*

*Z See R. Flores Magon to Sarabia, May 25, 1907, and to Araujo, June 6, 1907, both in Gonzalez Ramirez, ed., E- pistolario y textos, pp. 106-110. Tomas Sarabia also often went under the name of "TomSs Labrada."

^R. Flores Magon to Sarabia, May 25, 1907.

^R. Flores Magon to Araujo, June 6, 1907. 124 associate, Arriaga, helped change Madero's mind. In the course of a few sentences, he called Arriaga a "liar," and a

"vile intriguer" and spoke of the "slanders of the miserable deserter Arriaga.In the future, Flores Magon would react with even greater viciousness when former supporters deserted him.For the moment, the Liberals were concerned with publish­ ing their newspaper while at the same time avoiding arrest.

Because of the threat of discovery and arrest, the Junta jour­ nal which appeared for the first time in Los Angeles on June

1, 1907, was not entitled Regeneracion, but Revolucion. Mo­ desto Diaz was listed as editor and publisher of RevoluciGn, while Federico Arizmendez and Fidel Ulibarri were in charge of the presses. It was obvious, however, that Flores Magon was actually in control of the paper -- at first, from Sacra­ mento and then from Los Angeles itself toward the end of June, when he moved secretly to that city. Villarreal and Librado

Rivera preceded Ricardo to Los Angeles and were also active on the newspaper. Additional editorial assistance was transmitted from Douglas, Arizona, whence Pr&xedis G. Guerrero, whom

Ricardo called e_l hacendade-pe6n, was becoming more active.^

6Ibid. 7 Martinez Nunez, La vida heroica, p. 109; E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores Mag6n, pp. 123-125. 125

Nor did the appearance of Revolucion escape the ever- watchful eyes of the Mexican officials and their American de­ tectives and informers. On June 13, Antonio Lozano, Mexican

Consul in Los Angeles, submitted the first two issues of

RevoluciGn, dated June 1 and June 8, to Enrique Creel, the

Mexican Ambassador in Washington. Lozano also reported that he believed that Flores Mag6n was hiding either in Los An­ geles or nearby. Lozano asked that the Mexican Embassy in­ struct Thomas Furlong, head of the St. Louis detective com­ pany employed by Mexico, or some other secret agent, to operate in Los Angeles to help capture Flores Magon. 8 Fur­

long himself was to get this duty.

In the second issue of RevoluciGn, Flores MagGn at­

tempted to explain the meaning of the Liberal struggle: "The

revolution which was begun at the end of September of last year and which is now continuing, is a popular revolution

of profound motives, deep causes, and more than enough di­

rection." The Liberal revolt, he said, was nothing like the

barracks revolts Porfirio Diaz had initiated and which ulti­

mately brought him to power, because no personal ambition

was now involved; however, neither betrayals, nor threats,

O See Creel to Secretario do Relaciones Exteriores, June 21, 1907, in Gonzalez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y textos, pp. 111-112. 126 nor imprisonment, nor assassinations would defeat the Liberal revolt. And the revolution initiated by the Liberal Junta is

"well grounded in the needs of the people" and until these 9 are met, it will not die. It will outlive its leaders.

The Mexican government was much more concerned with the leaders of the Junta than with the needs of the people at the moment. One of these leaders, Manuel Sarabia, second vocal of the Junta, was in Douglas, Arizona, working as a re­ porter for the Douglas International American under the name of "Sam Moret." He had been in the Arizona border town since

June 1, 1907. On the morning of June 30, Arizona Ranger Sam

J. Hayhurst, acting on orders from Ranger Captain Harry Wheeler, arrested Sarabia and had city policeman Lee Thompson and jailer T.H. Taylor confine him in the Douglas city jail. No complaint had been filed and no warrant issued. Once Sarabia was in custody, a guard was placed on the jail at the expense of the Mexican Consul, Antonio Maza. At about 10 o ’clock that night, the guard, James Dowdle, and a Douglas constable, A.

J. Shropshire, forcibly took Sarabia from the jail, placed him in a car driven by Henry Elvey, and took him across the border to the town of Agua Prieta, Sonora. Here he was turned over

Q Article from Revolucion printed in Abad de Santillan, Ricardo Flores Magon, pp. 32-33. 127 to the notorious Colonel Emilio Kosterlitski and a company of

Mexican rurales.^ An international incident had begun..

The kidnapping did not go unnoticed. On July 1, some­ one sent a telegram to President Theodore Roosevelt over Sara- bia's name; and on the same day three residents of Douglas also wired him protesting the kidnapping. ' Meanwhile, Sarabia, handcuffed and tied to a horse, had been taken to Naco, Sonora, thence to Cananea. After two days in jail there, he was taken in.the same manner to Imuris, Sonora, where he was placed oi? a 12 train, taken to the state capital, Hermosillo, and imprisoned.

Several mass meetings in Douglas protested the arrest of Sarabia. "Mother Jones," a well-known American labor or­ ganizer, was in Douglas to speak at a labor rally the night of . the kidnapping and she, too, took part in these rallies.*'* A citizens' committee composed of Anglo residents of Douglas investigated the incident. Their findings, which they report­ ed to the President, the Attorney General, and the Secretary *11

10 - • J.L.B. Alexander to Attorney General, July 18, 1907,' Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-113073; Arizona Daily Star, July 6, July J.6, 1907; Arizona Republican, July 6, 1907; Manuel Sarabia, "How I Was Kidnapped," The Border (Dec., 1908), pp. 1-4. 11 Sarabia to Roosevelt, and Jose Romo, Valentine Perez-, and Manuel C&rdenas to Roosevelt, July 1, 1907, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-11172. 12 Arizona Daily Star, July 6, 1907; Sarabia, "How I Was Kidnapped," pp. 3-4. 13 Arizona Daily Star. July 6, 1907; The Border, p. 5. 128 of State, were essentially what developed to be the facts in the case. They said the sheriff and the district attorney of the county refused to act on these facts, and they demanded that the United States marshal and attorney arrest and prose­ cute the guilty parties. In addition, they called for the removal of Consul Maza. In conclusion, they said that they were entitled to a "square deal" and were not getting it from their territorial officers.

A dissenting view of the arrest of Sarabia came from

Colonel William C. Greene, president of the Cananea Consoli­ dated Cooper Company, in a letter of July 5, 1907, to Robert

Bacon, Assistant Secretary of State. Greene said certain ci­ tizens in Douglas were only trying to cater to the Mexican vote by making an issue of this arrest. He went on to state that Sarabia had been in Cananea during the last days of May,

1906, making inflammatory speeches, and had left there on the morning of June 1, just hours before the riot began.

Saraibia, said the colonel, was wanted in Mexico for inciting that riot, and in St. Louis, Missouri, for criminal libel.

Greene also stated that Sarabia took part in the revolutionary activities in Texas in the fall of 1906, and had been in

14 . . Petition dated July 3, 1907; in Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-11186. The citizens' report was addressed to Roosevelt, Root, and "The Honorable iNApoleon Bonaparte, Attorney General." 129

Douglas inciting revolutionary feeling among the miners in

Bisbee and Douglas. Greene said Sarabia was arrested in Agua

Prieta by the Chief of Police and eight deputies of that city, adding that Mexican officials arrested him on Mexican soil, hence no complaint could be lodged against the Mexican government. "These are the facts in the case," said the entrepreneur, and then wrote: "They had a perfect right to arrest him on Mexican soil, even if it was an extraordinary coincidence that they should happen to be at that spot when

Sarabia crossed the line from the United States into Mexico."

Greene saw Sarabia in Cananea and said he was "being well treated and will have a fair trial." Greene concluded by say­ ing that "The authorities of Arizona and of Sonora have, for many years, cooperated in endeavoring to rid the frontier of criminals who operate on both sides of the line, and the ar­ rest of Sarabia removes a man who was a dangerous menace to peace and good will along the frontier.

Without the preposterous "coincidence," Charles Mc-

Keene, a Bisbee man, agreed with Greene's view when he told

The Arizona Republican that authorities in Sonora and Arizona had informal" agreements whereby they did not always remain

^Greene to Bacon, July 5, 1907, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-112695. So much of this letter is such an obvious twisting of the facts that it is doubtful that Greene was merely misinformed. It may be recalled that an attempt was made in the fall of 1906 to connect Librado Rivera with the Cananea strike. 130

completely within the bounds of legality in controlling cri­ minals on both sides of the border. McKeene also said that

the officers accused of kidnapping Sarabia "are among the best in Cochise county." To McKeene the criminal character

of Sarabia was illustrated by the fact that he was in Doug­

las to help organize the smelter workers.

Investigation disclosed that Captain Ramos Ramon

Bararas of the Mexican Federal Army came to Douglas and told

Captain Wheeler of the Rangers that Sarabia was wanted for

murder in Mexico. Wheeler then directed Hayhurst to make

the arrest. Both Bareras and Maza were in Douglas when Sarabia

was arrested and when he was kidnapped. Maza denied any

knowledge of either event.^ Unknown to the United States

authorities, Maza wired the Mexican Foreign Relations office

from Agua Prieta on July 1, 1907: "Manuel Sarabia apprehended 18 and moved to Agua Prieta." Almost a week later, the Mexican

government, through its foreign office, said it knew nothing

about the kidnapping.^ The chauffeur, Elvey, confessed all

before the citizens’ committee and on July 5 Douglas authori­

ties arrested Maza, Hayhurst, Shropshire, Taylor, and Thomp­

son for their involvement in the kidnapping. Most of the 19161718

16 The Arizona Republican. July 10, 1907. 17 Alexander to Attorney General, July 18, 1907. 18 Maza to Secretaries de Relaciones Exteriores, July 1, 1907, in Gonzalez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario £ textos, p . 113. 19 The Arizona Republican. July 6, 1907. 131

Americans had been paid by Maza for their roles. 20 The guard,

Dowdle, escaped arrest by fleeing the territory. The United

States Attorney in the Territory of Arizona, J.L.B. Alexander, investigated, but found that no federal laws had been violated; it was a matter for the territorial authorities. Moreover,

Alexander said, "the charge made against Sarabia of murder in 21 Mexico was without foundation or truth."

Sarabia was returned to the United States on July 12,

1907, with apologies. Captain Wheeler himself went to Hermo- sillo to get the young Mexican, who impressed one reporter 2 2 as "an enthusiastic boy embued with the spirit of liberty."

Wheeler and Governor-Elect Luis Torres of Sonora were given much credit for resolving the crisis, which illustrates how both the Arizona Rangers and the Mexican government came out ox of the affair unsoiled. They were able to shift the blame to such local officials as Bareras, Maza, and Shropshire.

Wheeler must have been a little concerned, however, as Sara­ bia said the Ranger Captain told him it cost him $200 out of

O A his own pocket to get Sarabia out of Hermosillo.

20 The Arizona Daily Star, July 6, 1907. Released on bond, Maza, pretending to go to Tucson, Arizona, went to Cananea to confer with Vice-President Ram6n Corral and General Luis Torres, Governor-Elect of Sonora. Ibid., July 11, 1907. 21 Alexander to Attorney General, July 18, 1907.

^2The Arizona Daily Star, July 16, 1907. 23 Ibid.

2^Sarabia, "How I Was Kidnapped," p. 4. 132

Nothing ever came of the charges against the kidnappers of Sarabia. Manuel Sarabia was a well-known member of the

Mexican Liberal Party. He had contacts in Douglas and in other parts of the country, and the United States government received or a great number of protests against his kidnapping. The main tangible result of this episode was that Consul Maza lost his position, but the matter-of-fact way the operation was carried out raises the question of how common it was to secret Mexican political opponents across the border without a trial, a hear­ ing, or even charges being brought against them.

Less than two months after the arrest and kidnapping of Sarabia, the relentless Thomas Furlong finally cornered

Ricardo Flores Magon. On August 21, 1907, Furlong wired the

Mexican consul in St. Louis that he had located Flores Mag6n in Los Angeles and was keeping him under surveillance. He would await help and further instructions from his employers before proceeding. Furlong had been in Los Angeles since the third week in July on orders from Ambassador Enrique Creel.

Once Furlong located the fugitives. Creel himself went to Los

Angeles, arriving on the morning of August 23. That afternoon,

95 See Alvey A. Adee to Attorney General, Aug. 2, 1907, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-113875. 2 6 Jose Algara to Secretario de Gobernacion, Aug. 22, 1907, in Gonzalez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y textos, p . 120. 133

Furlong, his agent, Ansel T. Samuels, two Los Angeles city detectives -- Luis A. Rico and Felipe Talamantes --and at least two other detectives went to the home where Flores

Mag6n and Rivera were living to make the arrests. Antonio

I. Villarreal was also in the house. No warrants had been issued for the arrest, and the Mexicans resisted furiously, fighting and crying for help all the way to the police station. The editor of Revolucion, Modesto

Diaz, was also arrested, but he was very quickly re- 2 7 leased.

Flores Magon was convinced the purpose of Fur­ long and the others was to take the Liberals across the border under the cloak of secrecy and to turn them over to the Mexican government. The Sarabia case was fresh in his mind. He believed that the struggle put up by himself, Rivera, and Villarreal, together with the crowds it attracted, was all that saved them from

2 7 Antonio Lozano to Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, Sept. 1, 1907, ibid., pp. 122-127n testi­ mony of Furlong in Records of the Supreme Court, NA, Appellate Case No. 211-53, The Matter of the Applica­ tion of R. Flores Magon et al. for a Writ of Habeas Corpus. Rico, his brother, T.F. Rico, and Talamantes, were well-known among the Mexican exiles in Los Angeles 134 being taken to Mexico and executed. 28 Some evidence sup­ ports this suspicion to some extent, as Furlong, during the later hearing in Los Angeles, was reported as saying he was not so much interested in the case and the par­ ticular charges as he was in getting the defendants over into Arizona. An American quoted Furlong as say­ ing, "all we want is to get the defendants down into

Arizona, and then we will see that they get across the 29 line." The detective was not, however, speaking for the Mexican government, and evidently he often made statements that illustrated an obvious lack of forethought. After the arrests, Furlong also went back to the scene of the capture and gathered up all the exiles' papers; these he turned over to the Mexi­ can government, an action which would seem to indicate that someone wished to make a case against the magon- 30*29 and greatly hated. They were generally considered to be agents of the Diaz government and of Lozano, the Mexican consul. ? Q R. Flores Magon to Weinberger, May 9, 1921, in Flores Magdn, Epistolario revolucionario, II, pp. 68- 79. Rivera concurred in this view. See Rivera to Tellez, June 12, 1928, in For la libertad, pp. 85-95. 29 Affidavit of W.F. Zwicky regarding conversation with Furlong on Dec. 2, 1907, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-126581. 30 Furlong bragged that he had been pursuing 135 istas in the United States.31 32

After pursuing Flores Magdn for so many months, the authorities of both the United States and Mexico exhibited a surprising lack of knowledge about what to do with him once they had caught him. California authorities held Flores

Magdn and Rivera for extradition hearings, with a view to removing them to Missouri to face charges of criminal

libel. Libel suits, which were still unsettled, had been brought against the editors of Regeneracidn in St. Louis by Manuel Esperdn y de la Flor and his wife and by William

C. Greene. Villarreal, who was wanted in El.Paso, Texas,

by the immigration authorities, was charged in California

for resisting arrest, an unusual charge, at best, given

the circumstances of the arrest. Lozano, the consul,

swore out a complaint against the three Liberals to hold

them for extradition proceedings for their removal to

Mexico. The charge was robbery, consisting of stealing

Flores Magdn for three years, and in the course of that time he had been responsible for turning over 180 Mexican refugees to the Mexican government. See El Democrata, Sept. 6, 1924. 31 Testimony of Furlong, Records of the Supreme Court, NA, Appellate Case No. 211-53, op., city 32 Oscar Lawler to Attorney General, Sept. 2, 1907, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-115697; Lo­ zano to Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, Sept. 1, 1907. 136 stealing the sum of $25 from JimSnez, Coahuila, and the mur­ der of John Doe there. Warrants were issued but not served while the Liberals were still in the hands of the local au­ thorities.* 3 *^

Oscar Lawler, United States Attorney for the Southern

District of California, had charge of the Flores Mag6n case for the government. He had, however, more than ample assis­ tance from Mexico. Besides Creel and Lozano, the Mexican government sent Fernando Duret to Los Angeles from the

Foreign Relations legal staff in Mexico City. Lozano, ac­ companied by Furlong, went to see State Senator Frank Flint to ask his help in the case. Flint replied that he was not then maintaining a private practice, but recommended Donald

Barker of the firm of Gray, Barker, and Bowen. The Mexican government also retained Horace H. Appel, a well-known

California criminal lawyer, and a Judge Griner, from Texas, 34 to assist in the legal proceedings. From the beginning of the case, Lawler conferred with these men. He wrote At­ torney General Bonaparte that "nothing has been done

33Lawler to Attorney General, Sept. 12, 1907, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-1156628. Accord­ ing to the treaty between the two countries, the minimum sum for which a person could be extradited for robbery was $25.

3^Ibid.; Lozano to Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, Sept. 1, 1907. 137 withtmt the sanction and approval" of Creel, Duret, and the rest.35 *37

The defendants also had some able attorneys on their side. Immediately after the arrest, LSzaro GutiSrrez de

Lara represented the Mexicans. Gutierrez de Lara had been active in Cananea just before the strike and had evidently come to Los Angeles after that event. There he must have been active in the rather sizable Socialist movement.

Shortly after the arrest of Flores Magdn, Villarreal, and

Rivera, Job Harriman and A.R. Holston of the firm of

Harriman and Holston took charge of the defense. Both men were well-known members of the Socialist Party, Harriman 37 once having been the Party's candidate for vice-president.

For a time, it was not clear what the charges

against the Mexicans would be. Lawler reported that the

Mexican government could produce "no documentary evidence

whatever" to support the charges of robbery and murder. The

35Lawler to Attorney General, Sept. 12, 1907.

3^Lozano to Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, Sept. 1, 1907; The Arizona Daily Star, Aug. 25, 1907. 37 E.D; Turner, Ricardo Flores Magdn, p . 138. She says Harriman and Holston were brought into the case by Anselmo L. Figueroa, a leader of the Spanish language section of the Socialist Party in Los Angeles. Figueroa 138

acts in Coahuila had occurred while the defendants were in

the United States and Lawler was not at all certain that

Mexico even wanted to extradite Flores Majjdn, Villarreal, and

Rivera.

During my interview with Mr. Creel, while he did not directly so state, I very strongly inferred that it was his opinion that considerable difficulty would be en­ countered in making out a sufficient case to justify extradition. I also inferred that he regarded the presence of these defendants in Mexico, if extradited, as somewhat of a menace to good order in view of their influence with elements in that Republic with whom they had been attempting to co-operate in their enterprises against the government.38

Feeling it would be better to try to make a local case for

violation of the neutrality laws, Lawler and the Mexican

officials recalled the Arizona case of slightly more

than a year earlier. J.L.B. Alexander, the United States At­

torney for the Territory of Arizona, was consulted for his

views. Barker and Duret went to Phoenix, Arizona, to

talk with Alexander, showing him the evidence they had

acquired. Alexander also made a trip to Los Angeles to dis­

cuss the case with Creel. Alexander thought the evidence

was later to become the editor of RegeneraciSn. Harriman came close to being elected mayor of Los Angeles in 1911 on the Socialist Party ticket. 38 Lawler to Attorney General, Sept. 12, 1907. 139 in hand showed conclusively that the defendants were guilty of conspiring to violate the neutrality laws. He believed he could obtain a conviction, not only removing the present menace the magonistas represented, but also making this 39 case an object-lesson to other would-be revolutionaries.

With the approval of the Mexican authorities, Alexander

obtained complaints and warrants in Arizona against the

Liberals. The Mexican government notified the Department

of State that it wished to drop the extradition proceed­

ings with a view to having the exiles delivered to the

federal authorities in Arizona.* *® On the same day this

action was taken, September 24, 1907, the California of­

ficials released Flores Magon and his companions; they

were then rearrested on the federal charges.** Thus the

battle was joined. The Liberals and their ever-

.increasing and ever-widening circle of supporters vigor-

39 Creel to Alexander, Sept. 3, 1907; Alexander to Attorney General, Sept. 18, 1907, Dept. of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-116442; Arturo M. Ellas to Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, Sept. 7, 1907, in Gonzdlez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y textos, pp. 127-130.

*®Jos6 F. Godoy to Dept, of State, Sept. 24, 1907, ibid., File 90755-117280.

* "^Bonaparte to Lawler, Sept. 24, 1907; Bonaparte to Alexander, Sept. 24, 1907, Dept, of Justice, ibid., File 90755-117185. 140 ously fought against being moved to Arizona to stand trial there.

The hearings in Los Angeles began on November 25, 1907, before United States Commissioner William M. Van Dyke. Alex­

ander came from Arizona to assist Lawler. The major pieces

of evidence produced were the letters from Flores Magon to

the revolutionaries in Arizona, which had been confiscated

in the raids of September, 1906. In these, Flores Magon and

the Junta had issued commissions, suggested plans of attack,

and agreed to others. Although these letters clearly showed

the conspiracy to violate the neutrality laws, the only evi­

dence that an overt act had been committed came from the

testimoney of Trinidad Vazquez, the agent Governor Rafael

Izcibel of Sonora had hired to infiltrate the Liberal movement

in Douglas, Arizona. The testimony of VSzquez was very in­

consistent, and he even identified as authentic a letter sup­

posedly signed by Villarreal in which the name was spelled

"Willarreal," despite the fact there is no "W" in the Spanish

alphabet.^ Nevertheless, Commissioner Van Dyke ruled that

the three defendants should be removed to Arizona to stand

trial there. The defense immediately began appeals that

eventually reached the United States Supreme Court, and it

^See the complete transcript of the hearings in Records of the Supreme Court, NA, Appellate Case No. 211-53 141 was almost a year and a half later before the government was able to bring the Liberal leaders to trial in Tombstone,

Arizona. In the meantime, they remained in the Los Angeles

County Jail, unable to gain freedom on bond.

The "Flores Magon movement continued to grow even with only limited direction from the confined leader. From

Douglas, Arizona, Prdxedis G. Guerrero sent out news of the arrest immediately to other Liberal adherents. Guerrero recounted how Flores Magdn, Villarreal, and Rivera had struggled in two countries against the dictatorship of Por- firio Diaz. "The members of the Organizing Junta of the

Liberal Party have had to hide in the land of Lincoln, the country of great liberties, in order to fight for good and

Justice!" Now the dictatorship had bribed the United States authorities to imprison the Junta leaders, said Guerrero.

He went on to describe the sacrifices the arrested Mexicans had made in their struggle, and then asked for financial sup­ port. They needed money for both bail bonds and to pay the de­ fense attorneys.^

The Junta newspaper, Revolucion, fared little better than the leaders in the next few months after the arrests.

With the principal contributors in jail, Gutierrez de Lara

^Circular letter from Guerrero dated Aug. 31, 1907, in Gonzalez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y textos, pp. 121- 122. 142 stepped in to take over direction of the paper. It was to be a brief career. On September 27, 1907, Gutierrez de Lara,

Modesto Diaz, and the printers, Federico Arizmendez and Fidel

Ulibarri were arrested on charges of criminal libel brought by the detectives, Rico and Talamantes, and the paper was shut down. Diaz, Arizmendez, and Ulibarri were released on bond, but the Mexican government made an attempt to extradite Gutie­ rrez de Lara. The original complaint charged the Socialist lawyer and writer with robbery committed on the "blank day" of the "blank month" of 1906 in the "blank state" of the Re­ public of Mexico. The authorities held Gutierrez de Lara for almost three months on this nebulous charge, although the state of "Sonora" later filled one of the blanks, while the Mexican government attempted to produce evidence. Ulti­ mately, the charge was disclosed as being for stealing uncut firewood in the state of Sonora in 1903. Even though Gutie­ rrez de Lara had been acquitted on this same charge in Mexico four years earlier, only a technicality enabled Harriman to prevent the Mexican's extradition. So after 104 days in jail,

Gutierrez de Lara gained his freedom.

4 4 Lozano to Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, Feb. 4, 1908, in ib id., pp. 139-141;Martlnez Nunez, La vida heroica, pp. 113-114; J.K. Turner, Barbarous Mexico, pp. 289-291. 143

With the arrest of Gutierrez -de Lara, Manuel Sarahia and Guerrero.moved - to Los.Angeles from-Douglas - to reopen and direct Revolucion. Enrique.Flores Magdn also.rejoined the move­ ment , arriving in Los Angeles - from New York sometime in October or early November.^ Sarabia lasted in - the-hazardous editor;s job only until early January, 1908, when he was arrested on the same charges for which Flores Mag6n, Villarreal, and Rivera were being held.Waiving extradition hearings, Sarabia was not involved in the court battle and was-removed to Arizona on

May 8, 1908. Even then, he feared the-authorities were plot­ ting against him. He wired.Bonaparte.on May 4, 1908, requesting to be sent to Arizona at once. He had been-held in Los Angeles nearly a month after the.removal order had been signed, and, he said,

It is a trick to hold.me - here until.after the Tombstone Court closed this sessibh. You.told Senator Perkins that the men who-kidnapped, me’-should-be punished. They are free while I am in jail.47

A r Martinez Nfifiez, La vida heroica, pp. 114-115; Kaplan, Combatimos la tirania, pp. 190-191. Enrique had been doing e- lectrical work on the Singer building construction.

^E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores-Mag6n,-p. 142. J^he says Sarabia was arrested so suddenly he had a.list of Liberal Party Members on his person. Before being booked,-he secretly passed it to a young journalist and Liberal.partisan, Ethel Dolson, who happened to be at the_Commissioner;s.office.

.^Sarabia to Bonaparte, May.4, 1908,Dept.of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, -File-90755-137033. 144

Once in Arizona, Sarabia still could not get a trial, for 4 8 Alexander wanted to try the others first. Revolucibn sur­ vived this last editor by only a few weeks. On February 3,

1908, Diaz, Arizmendez, and Ulibarri were arrested were ar­ rested on a new libel charge brought by Rico. The paper was suppressed.^

Harriman and Holston continued to try to win a victory in the Flores Magon case, in or out of court. While con­ tinuing their appeals, and unable to get their clients out on bond, the lawyers attempted to gain intervention from Wash­ ington. They wrote letters to the President, the Attorney

General, and to members of the California Congressional repre­ sentation about their case. They discussed the many charges which were brought against their clients and pointed out the weakness of the testimony of VSzquez. They contended that the Mexican government was only trying to get the defendants to Arizona so that they could kidnap them the way they had tried to kidnap Sarabia. The attorneys enclosed copies of

Furlong's testimony,- which showed he was an employee of the

^Sarabia to Bonaparte, May 4, 1908, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-137033. 4 8 See Alexander to Attorney General, Sept. 24, 1908, ibid., File 90755-19. 49 Lozano to Secretaries de Relaciones Exteriores, Feb. 4, 1908. 145

Mexican government, and which also illustrated the manner in which he arrested the Liberals. They also enclosed an affidavit which quoted Furlong to the effect that a kidnapping might be attempted in Arizona. Harriman and Holston said the defendants were men of high quality, and though they might have radical political opinions, this was no offense. They asked Bonaparte to stop the persecution.^® All the letters sent by Harriman and Holston were eventually referred to Bonaparte for an answer.

The Attorney General replied that he did not believe the Mexican government had any intention of trying to kidnap the defendants. He also said that the way they were captured was not the issue and, since they were accused of "an offense of the most serious character," he would not dismiss the case.^ Following the charges brought by Harriman and Hol­ ston, Bonaparte did become a little concerned about the possi­ bility of a kidnapping. Shortly after answering the Los

Angeles lawyers, he wrote Alexander in Arizona about this pos­ sibility:

^®Harriman and Holston to Bonaparte, Jan. 13, 1908, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-126581.

^Bonaparte to Harriman and Holston, Jan. 21, 1908, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-126581. 146

I, of course, do not entertain for a moment the idea that the Mexican Government has any such intention as is charged by Messrs. Harriman and Holston and regard their suspicions in this matter as entirely without foun­ dation, the spirit of fair dealing and international cour­ tesy of the Mexican Government having been well illustrated by its conduct in the recent Sarabia case. . . .

Yet he cautioned Alexander to be watchful in the event "ir­ responsible parties may make an effort to repeat the steps taken in the Sarabia case, in spite of the prompt repudiation of the

Mexican Government."

Alexander quickly responded with his own feelings about the defendants. He said, "Magon, Villarreal and Rivera are

rank anarchists and socialists" and they not only intended to

carry a revolution from the United States to Mexico, but they

also intended to assassinate high officials, blow up rail­

roads, and commit other heinous crimes. As far as their at­

torneys were concerned, Alexander said "Messrs. Harriman and

Holston are both socialists, and I may say anarchistically

inclined. ..." Moreover, they had been trying the case on 5 3 the public streets to get sympathy for their clients.

52 Bonaparte to Alexander, Jan. 24, 1908, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-126960. This letter illustrates how the Mexican government came out of the Sarabia kidnapping officially untarnished, but it may also indicate that Bonaparte might have had some suspicions. 5 3 Alexander to Attorney General, Jan. 29, 1908, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-127948. 147

The activities of Harriman, Holston, and others re­ sulted in considerable sympathy for the magonistas, particu­ larly among•American Socialists and the labor union movement.

The idea that Mexico was the country involved, coupled with the overtones of persecution, undoubtedly added a certain amount of romance as far as many idealistic norteamericanos were concerned. A young journalist, Ethel Mowbray Dolson, was one of the first Americans to become attached to the Liberal cause when she interviewed the Mexicans in the Los Angeles jail. She subsequently lost her job, but continued to be some­ thing of a messenger for the jailed Liberals. Harriman's attachment to the case, with his importance in the Los Angeles

Socialist Party, contributed to a great interest on the part of the Socialists. John Murray, Jimmy Roche, and P.D. and

Frances Noel were among those in Los Angeles who became in­ volved. Murray spent much of his life working among Mexicans in the southwestern United States.^

In the fall of 1907, John Kenneth Turner and his wife,

Ethel Duffy, came to Los Angeles, moved in Socialist circles, and became interested in the Mexicans. Turner went to work for the Los Angeles Record and, in the course of this work, interviewed Flores Mag6n and the others in the jail. It was

this interview which ultimately led him to go to Mexico in

1908 to see for himself if what the Liberals told him was true.

^E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores Mag6n, pp. 141-143. 148

The result of that trip was to be a series of articles for the American Magazine, then in its prime as a muckraking magazine. These articles were later expanded into the ex­ plosive book, Barbarous Mexico, an influential expose of the Diaz regime, published in 1910.

Another important convert to the cause in this period was Elizabeth Darling Trowbridge, a wealthy young Bostonian with libertarian ideas. She went to California early in 1908, and became deeply involved in the little group of Liberal sympathizers. She helped support the Mexicans' defense fi­ nancially; she also carried on much correspondence denouncing the dictatorship of.Porfirio Diaz and trying to obtain the freedom for what she considered to be political prisoners.

Ethel Duffy Turner, who established a close friendship with

Elizabeth Trowbridge, recalled that they both were "young, inspired and impregnated with democratic idealism. . . ."

Everything was new, fresh, and sometimes frightening. "We learned new words, new concepts, 'ley fuga, 'jefe politico,'

'Belem,' 'San Juan de UIda.'" The Liberal heroes became their heroes. "For us, Juan Sarabia was the symbol of the martyr."

Once Sarabia got a letter out of San Juan deUlda addressed to Ricardo, and Ethel Turner said, "With all our hearts we C C envied Ethel Dolson" when she delivered it to Flores Magon." 55

55Ibid. , pp. 144-145. 149

Miss Trowbridge also lent financial support to the family of Librado Rivera, who had come to Los Angeles from

St. Louis. The young Bostonian did the same for the family

Flores Mag6n had acquired. Sometime after coming to Los

Angeles, Ricardo met Maria Talavera also known as Maria Bru- sse. By the time of his arrest, she had become virtually his wife in free union. She also had a daughter named Lucia

Norman, whom Ricardo unofficially adopted. Maria Talavera,

Miss Trowbridge, and Mrs. Turner often visited the prisoners together, that is, when the Mexicans were allowed to see any­ one other than their attorneys.^

These Liberal sympathizers were instrumental in at­ tempts to begin new periodicals. Flores Mag6n was keenly interested in the Liberals’ publishing a newspaper, both to support their case and to continue attacks on the dictator­ ship. Early in 1908, he hoped Guerrero would be able to start one.*^ Financial problems and Guerrero’s involvement in the revolutionary activities of 1908, however, prohibited this pro­

ject. In April, Modesto Diaz, Arizmendez, and Ullbarri made

another attempt to publish RevoluciGn, but were unsuccessful.

^Interview with Ethel Duffy Turner in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, June, 1965. See correspondence between Ricardo and Marla in Gonzalez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y textos,.pp. 166 ff. C7 See excerpt of letter of Mar. 18, 1908, R. Flores Magon to Guerrero, in Martinez Nunez, La vida heroica, pp. 120-122. ------150

Because of the libel suits, their presses were confiscated and they were jailed once again. Arizmendez and Ullbarri obtained their release, but Diaz died while in jail, ending an 5 8 active but little-rewarded career as a newspaper editor. A new organization, Club Tierra Igualadad % Justicia, sponsor­ ed the Liberal journal that did appear; Libertad % Trabajo was published in May and June, 1908. Actually, Miss Trowbridge supplied the financial support. Fernando Palomarez, a veteran of the Cananea strike, with assistance from Juan Olivares, a refugee from the Rio Blanco massacre, directed the paper. A good part of the editorial work reportedly was the work of

Flores Mag6n, smuggled out of the Los Angeles County Jail by

Maria Talavera and published under other names. Articles were often signed "Maria B. Talavera" or with the name of her daughter, "Lucia B. N o r m a n . Libertad y Trabajo lasted only until early June, when Palomarez and Olivares left for Mexico to take part in the proposed revolutions of 1908.^

Miss Trowbridge also financed first-hand investiga­ tions of the Mexican situation, On May 8, John Murray, secret­ ly carrying a letter of introduction from Flores Magdn, left

— ------77----- Martinez Nunez, La vida heroica, p. 122. eg E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores MagSn, pp. 151-152. Mrs. Turner possesses one copy of Libertad y Trabajo, dated June 6, 1908, the fifth and final issue, which contains articles signed by both Maria B. Talavera and Lucia B. Norman.

60Ibid., p. 159. 151 for a two-month trip into Mexico. Near the end of July, John

Kenneth Turner, accompanied by Gutierrez de Lara, left Los

Angeles for his historic trip into Mexico. Not long after his return to the United States, Murray went to Tucson, Ari­ zona, and, in October, Miss Trowbridge and Mrs. Turner fol­

lowed him there. Shortly after this, John Kenneth Turner re­ joined the group. In Tucson, Miss Trowbridge helped Murray begin a magazine entitled The Border, which the editors called

"A Monthly Magazine of Politics, News, and Stories of the Bor­

der." The first issue appeared in November, 1908.^

It was not until the second issue that the magazine began attacking the Mexican government. In December, The Bor­

der carried an editorial on the Diaz regime and one by Manuel

Sarabia on his kidnapping. The third issue, dated January,

1909, displayed a portrait of Ricardo Flores Magon on the

cover and Murray wrote an article about his trip to Mexico,

under the title, "The Men Diaz Dreads, Mexico's Revolutionists

and Their Third Uprising." The men dreaded by Diaz were, ac­

cording to Murray, the members of the Mexican Liberal Party

Junta. In an editorial in the same issue, Murray wrote, "The

great fear, ever present in the mind of Diaz, is that Ricardo

Flores Mag6n may obtain his freedom." Murray also mentioned

the Chicago Political Refugee Defense League, first formed to *1

61Ibid., pp. 154-156, 171-173; The Border, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Nov., 1908). 152 assist Russian political refugees in the United States who were sought by their government, and which was now becoming interested in the Mexicans. The League numbered Jane Addams of Hull House fame among its officers. In early January,

Murray left Tucson for Chicago to join this group and the 62 anti-Diaz activities of The Border came to an end.

The activities of the Liberal sympathizers in Arizona now drew rapidly to a close. John Kenneth Turner went to.New

York City in December, 1908, to try to sell his articles on

Mexico. Ethel Turner followed him a little later. Manuel

Sarabia had been released on bail on October 30, 1908, when

Miss Trowbridge put up the necessary $ 1 , 0 0 0 The United

States authorities were willing to free him on the grounds

that he had been "nothing but a tool" of Flores Magon and the

others. Sarabia then joined the group in Tucson and at­

tempted to publish a paper called El Defensor del Puebla. One

night Sarabia came to Ethel Turner, after being with Miss

Trowbridge, and excitedly told her, "Ethel, she wants to marry

62The Border, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Nov., 1908), No. 2 (Dec., 1908), No. 3 (Jan., 1909; E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores Magon, p. 174. The Border moved to Phoenix, Arizona, with new editors after Murray left. It was no longer interested in political problems.

^E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores Mag6n, pp. 173-175; Elias to Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, Oct. 30, 1908, in GonzSlez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y textos, pp. 144-145.

^Alexander to Attorney General, Apr. 12, 1909, Dept. of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-76. 153 me. What am I going to do?" On December 28, 1908, Sarabia married Elizabeth Trowbridge. With a trial facing Sarabia

sometime in the future, and with his health in a precarious

state, Elizabeth Sarabia*s zeal for the Liberal cause was out­ weighed by her desire to have her husband. She persuaded him

to forfeit his bond, and they fled to England in the early months of 1909.^ This concluded the intensive Liberal activi­

ty in Arizona.

Meanwhile, the case of the United States of America vs.

Ricardo Flores Magdn et al^. continued. Unable to get out on

bond, Flores Magdn tried other means for his release. He

wrote Marla asking her to obtain the services of a doctor

other than the one regularly employed by the United States

Marshal's office. "I am very sick," said Ricardo, "and they

cannot deny me my liberty on bond because it would be the same

as assassinating me."^ The doctor chosen was Horatio Walker,

a member of the faculty of the College of Medicine at the Uni­

versity of Southern California. In an affidavit dated October

26, 1908, and submitted to the Department of Justice, Walker

stated that Flores Magon was suffering from chronic bronchitis

and that continued confinement would seriously endanger his

65 °E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores Magon, pp. 173-175; In­ terview with Mrs. Turner. Flores Magdn would later bitterly attack Sarabia for deserting the Liberals. 66 R. Flores Magon to Talavera, Sept. 20, 1908, in Gon­ zalez Ramirez, ed,, Epistolario y textos, pp. 168-169. 154 7 health. ' The United.States authorities were not impressed.

The regular government physician, Dr. E.H. Garrett, examined

Flores Mag6n again and said his health was not endangered. He said he had lost twenty-five pounds, but was still stout; the doctor attributed his coughing not to bronchitis but to the

"great quantities of brown paper cigarettes" Ricardo smoked.^

Flores Magon remained in jail.

The wheels of justice ground slowly on and publicity on the case mounted as it neared the point at which the Mexicans would finally come to trial. The United States authorities received a great amount of mail regarding the case. Perhaps

the most unusual suggestion came from a man in Los Angeles who felt the United States was Biblically destined to rule

all nations ; He wrote * "In your granting me the simple privi­

lege of interviewing these men I will be able to sway the

Mexicans as well as the anarchist vote of the country, for the

victory of the Republican party.As the Republicans were

^Affidavit of Dr. Horatio Walker, Oct. 26, 1908, in Gonzdlez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y textos, pp . 168-169. 68 Dr. Garrett to Lawler, Dec. 4, 1908, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-44. Lawler said he "had the op­ portunity of examining correspondence between Magon and a woman of questionable repute" in which Flores Magon asked for an out­ side doctor. Lawler failed to show what relationship the woman's reputation might have had with the state of Flores Magon's health Lawler to Attorney General, Dec. 2, 1908, ibid., File 90755-13. 69 Letter of J . Dion, Sept. 1, 1908, to the U.S. Govern-- ment, ibid., File 90755-13. • ^ 155 not actively wooing the anarchist vote, it may be assumed this suggestion was ignored. A gentleman in Chicago was more straightforward when he wrote, "Oscar Lawler, You black imp of hell — get busy at once and help free those Mexican prisoners refugee patriots who fled to the U.S. -from the tyranny of the bloody Diaz

Finally, on March 4, 1909, their appeals rim out, the prisoners were taken to Arizona to stand trial. Then the

United States Department of Justice began having some doubts.

Lawler, who handled the government’s case in Los Angeles, was to assist Alexander, but in March he resigned to become As­ sistant Attorney General for the Department of the Interior.

By this time, the defendants were also under indictment in

Texas, and Bonaparte wondered if it might not be to the advan­ tage of the government to prosecute them there.^ For a time,

the government also feared that Clarence Darrow, rapidly be­

coming one of the most famous trial lawyers in America, would 7 7 aid in the defense of Flores Mag6n.

Alexander insisted upon trying the defendants in Ari­

zona. He believed his evidence was stronger than that in Texas,

^Unsigned letter to Lawler, Apr. 10, 1909, ibid., File 90755-82.

^Bonaparte to Alexander, Mar. 31, 1909, ibid.. File 90755-72.

^W.H.E. Llewellyn to Attorney General, Mar. 31, ibid., File 90755-711. 156 and he convinced the Mexican Consul in Tucson, Arturo Elias, 73 of this belief. Bonaparte consulted Lawler for his opinion, and the answer, considering that Lawler was no longer con­ nected with the case but still a government servant, is ex­ tremely revealing in regard to the handling of the Flores

Mag6n case. Lawler wrote:

In the proceedings at Los Angeles the evidence of set­ ting on foot of the expedition was produced, but was quite unsatisfactory in that it consisted of testimony/ of a young Mexican who .•.dttexfded meetings of the Insurgents, having been employed by the Mexican Government for that purpose. Although inclined to the view that his state­ ments were true, he was pretty badly shaken on a very inartificial [sic] cross-examination. As his employment by the Mexican Government can be shown through his own testimony, the door will be open to placing Mexico on trial, a result which, in my view, it is very desirable to avoid. Furthermore, the young man was somewhat in­ consistent, probably due to great fear induced by threats from the friends of the defendants, who, at the time of our hearing, crowded the court room, giving vent to their disapprobation in such manner as to require frequent ad­ monition from the Commissioner.74

73 Alexander to Attorney General, Apr. 12, 1909, ibid., File 90755-78; Elias to Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, Dec. 18, 1908, Mar. 12, 1909, Apr. 19, 1909, all in Gonzalez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y textos, pp. 146-150.

^Lawler to Attorney General, Apr. 15, 1909, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-78. Apparently, some threats on the life of Trinidad V&zquez were made at the Los Angeles hearing. Furlong said the members of the Junta and others at the hearing made the threats but that he would pro­ tect the witness. Furlong to Creel, Nov. 27, 1907, in GonzSlez Ramirez, ed., Espitolario y textos, pp. 131-133. On the court room spectators, the Los Angeles Times characterized the crowd as "the anarchistic crowd of sympathizers." The reporter for the newspaper of the ultraconservative Harrison Gray Otis wrote "The usual mob of peons and socialistic agitators filled the courtroom yesterday, and the sympathizers gave a demonstration in the lobby, where scores of ignorant women kissed the hands of the leaders of the junta and wept over their prospective 157

In the face of Lawler's practically admitting the gov­ ernment did not really have a case against Flores Magdn, Villa­ rreal, and Rivera based on the evidence at hand, Alexander had the indictments against the defendants dismissed and obtained new ones on May 5, 1909. These charged the Mexicans with four

counts of conspiracy to violate the neutrality law, and none 7 S of any overt acts. The defendants pleaded not guilty to

these charges, and the trial began in Tombstone, Arizona, on

May 12, 1909. Attorney for the defense was W.B. Cleary of

Tucson, a labor union lawyer. A newsman noted that Cleary did

not overlook'11 any opportunity to. make it . appear that union

labor is on trial in the persons of the prisoners." He asked

prospective jurors whether they approved of the Western

Federation of Miners.

martyrdom." Clipping from the Los Angeles Times, Jan.28, 1908, Dept, of Justice Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-177. 75 Ellas to Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, May 5, 1909, in GonzSlez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y textos, pp. 151- 153; The Arizona Daily Star, May 6, 1909.

^ The Arizona.Daily Star, May 15, 1909. Some elements of organized labor looked on the trial in the same way. An undated petition from Local No. 215 of the Woman's International Union Label League of Sfireport, Louisiana, to the Dept, of Jus­ tice well illustrated this feeling. Flores Mag6n and Villa­ rreal were called "two great labor supporters and friends of organized labor." They considered the trial.of the Mexicans an attack on the union labor movement and asked: "Why should the mighty nation called the United States truckle before Mexi­ co? Why must the American flag be dipped at the wave of Diaz? Why should the United States of America fawn at the feet of Mexico?" Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-94. 158

The two sisters and the father of Villarreal were at the trial, as were Maria Talavera, Rivera's wife and children,

and other Liberal sympathizers. The testimony went much the

same as at Los Angeles, except that Alexander was probably a more vengeful prosecutor than Lawler. Alexander, in his final

argument, referred to the defendants as "grafters" who had

been living on the money of the people they deluded. His

attacks brought a passionate denial from Villarreal, and his

sisters, Teresa and Andrea, jumped to their feet and cried

out that Alexander lied. The Villarreal sisters were evicted

from the court.room, but not before one of them reopened the 7 7 door to hurl a final "shut up" at the United States Attorney.

Throughout the trial, Flores Mag6n sat calmly and passively,

but one reporter, after watching him through it all, wrote

that "The elder of the prisoners, Mag6n, is undoubtedly the 7 R moving spirit of the trio."

Observers at the trial expected that the result would

be a hung jury. The defense based its hopes on the fact that

no armed force.had ever started from American territory to

invade Mexico, believing the jury would not convict on a 7*

^ The Arizona Daily Star, May 15 and 16, 1909; The Arizona Republican, May 16, 1909; Ellas to Secretario de Re- laciones Exteriores, May 13 and 19, 1909, in Gonz&lez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y textos, pp. 155-160. The sisters of Villa­ rreal were active on revolutionary periodicals in San Antonio, Texas. 7 8 The Arizona Daily Star, May 15, 1909. 159 79 technical violation of the neutrality laws. The case went to the all-Anglo jury about a half hour before midnight on May 15.

Slightly less than twelve hours later, a verdict of guilty was returned. A motion for a new trial was denied, and on May 19,

1909, Judge F.M. Doan sentenced Flores Magon, Villarreal, and 8 0 Rivera to eighteen months in the territorial prison. The three had been in jail in Los Angeles for nearly twenty months before they ever went to Arizona; the sentence would bring the total to over three years.

When Ricardo Flores Mag6n was again free, Mexico was about to burst forth in the revolution he had demanded for so long. But he never ceased preparing his country for it. His time in Los Angeles had not been limited to his own case with its varied legal proceedings. Indeed, from the moment of his arrest, he had plotted and directed revolutionary movements.

From his arrest in August, 1907, to his release in August, 1910, were three most important years in the Flores Magdn movement.

In those years, the magonistas had made another unsuccessful attempt at revolution. From the Los Angeles County Jail,

Flores Magdn had made his first profession of anarchism. And throughout these years, he and his followers had been steadily

^ Ibid., May 16, 1909; Arizona Republican, May 16, 1909. o rj Arizona Daily Star, May 20, 1909; Ellas to Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, May 13, May 19, 1909. 160 chipping away at the strength of the Mexican dictatorship.

Yet it also proved to be a very costly three years for the

Liberal leader. His removal from the scene lost him support he could never regain. He was not there when the Diaz re­ gime began to fall apart. As it turned out, much of the work of Ricardo Flores Mag6n had really been just preparation for

Francisco I. Madero. CHAPTER VI

ANARCHISM, REBELLION, AND THE "NOTORIOUS" GUERRERO

"There is not even a shadow of a revolutionary movement in Mexico."

--Enrique Creel*

"Do you feel it? It is the quaking of granite cracking to pieces, beaten by the iron fists of Pluto; it is the heart of the world beating beneath its enormous chest; it is the fiery spirit of a giant who breaks from his prison to hurl curses of flame into space. . . .

"Do you feel it? It is the vibration made by the ham­ mers of the gods. . . .

"It is the force of the revolution advancing." 2 --Praxedis G. Guerrero

Shortly after his arrest in 1907, Ricardo Flores Magbn began to pull away from the mainstream of Mexican political

liberalism. By becoming an anarchist Flores Magon ruled himself out of any future real significance in the stormy course

of the Mexican Revolution. He also destroyed his own move­

ment, but he did not realize it at the time and neither did

those closest to him. His views were known to only a few, and

*Creel to Root, July 11, 1908, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-4. O Guerrero, Articulos literarios, p. 24.

161 162 his imprisonment kept him from taking a really active role in revolutionary affairs. The followers of the Liberal Junta attempted their second armed-uprising in 1908, and once more met failure. As a result of this, many more of the Party leaders were imprisoned by the United-States for violation of the neutrality laws and even more were imprisoned in Mexico.

Still the magonistas kept fighting, particularly under the leadership of Praxedis G. Guerrero. They kept fighting right up.to 1910, when what was left of.the Flores Magdn movement was engulfed in the wave of indignation that would depose Por- firio Diaz and carry Francisco.I. Madero into the presidency of the Republic.

The rebellion of 1908 was to be, as was the attempt in

1906, a coordinated uprising of Liberal groups all over Mexi­ co. A lack of arms and ammunition once again hampered the movement. Too, the ever-alert authorities intercepted the plans for the uprising and were able to suppress the Liberal centers in all but a few areas, most of these in the United

States. Fairly complete details on the Liberal activities and plans for the revolt were contained in a letter from Ri­ cardo to Enrique Flores Magdn in early June, 1908, and this

letter fell into the hands of the Mexican government.^ Enrique

3 ' R. Flores Magon to E. Flores Magdn, June 7, 1908, in Abad de Santillan, Ricardo Flores Magon, pp. 47-55. The Mexican government had this letter reproduced in both La Patria and El Pais in Mexico City in August, 1908, after the revolt had been suppressed. 163 and Guerrero, with the other Liberal leaders in jail, were to be active directors of the uprising. In April, from the Los

Angeles County Jail, Ricardo and Antonio Villarreal had issued credentials naming Guerrero to the Junta in the capacity of third vocalShortly after Manuel Sarabia was arrested in

Los Angeles in January, 1908, and Revoluci6n shut down in the next weeks, Guerrero, accompanied by his close friend, Fran­ cisco Manrique, left California for El Paso, Texas. The young Liberal made his headquarters in the home of Priscilliano C G. Silva, the leader of the revolutionaries there. Enrique

Flores Mag6n, who was hiding in the home of R6mulo S. Carmona in Los Angeles, followed a few months later, arriving just before the revolt was scheduled in June,^

Ricardo, in his instructions to Enrique, wrote as if it would be a truly national uprising. He was particularly hopeful about Veracruz, where the Liberals had enjoyed some measure of success in earlier years. Juan Olivares, who had

' ' ."l . ' , helped publish La Revolucion Social in Rio Blanco and Liber- tad y Trabajo in.Los Angeles, was being sent back to Veracruz *20

^A copy of these credentials was sent to the Depart­ ment of State by the Mexican Embassy. Creel to Root, July 20, 1908, Dept, of State, Records, NA, File 311.1221.

^Martinez Nifnez, La vida heroica, pp. 127-128.

^Ibid., pp. 130-131; Kaplan, Combatimos la tirania, pp. 201-203. Enrique said he made the train trip from Los Angeles to El Paso disguised as an Italian musician, carrying a violin under his arm. He also paid his way with his music, going from car to car to play. 164 to help prepare the revolt there. Once again, the group in

El Paso was to lead an attack on Ciudad JuSrez, and much hope rested on uprisings in the border states of Chihuahua, Sonora,

Coahuila, Nuevo Le6n, and Tamaulipas. The Liberals also ex­ pected the Yaquis of Sonora to rise in revolt against the government.^

Flores Mag6n was so confident of success that he feared intervention from the United States. The best way to overcome this threat would be for the American people to agi­ tate against the government in favor of the revolutionists, but he held out little hope for this course of action. Even those groups in the United States, socialists and union labor organizations, which had been most favorable to the cause of the Liberals, could be counted on for little support. Ricardo wrote his brother:

The norteamericanos are incapable of feeling enthusiasm or indignation. This is truly a country of pigs. Look at the socialists: they cowardly break Up in their cam­ paign for free speech. Look at the resplendent American Federation of Labor with its million and a half members which cannot prevent the declaration of judicial "injunc­ tions." . . . . If the norteamericanos do not agitate against their own domestic miseries can we hope they will concern themselves with ours,8

A few months Lat-er, afterfz&ilure in revolt and continued failure in court, Flores Magon's feelings against the North

7 R. Flores Mag6n to E. Flores Magon, June "7, 1908.

8Ibid. 165

Americans grew more intense. In December, 1908, in a letter to Maria Talavera, his wife in free union, Ricardo said they could count on little help from people in the United States.

North Americans refused to accept the Liberals as men of ideas because "We are poor Mexicans. We are revolutionaries and our ideas are very advanced; but we are Mexicans. This is our fault. Our skins are not white. . . ."^

Further, just before the projected revolts in 1908,

Ricardo Flores Magdn made clear his anarchist views and ex­ plained why he continued to call himself a Liberal. The letter was addressed to his "dear brothers PrSxedis and Enrique" and was written in code. He prefaced his remarks by saying Li- brado Rivera was in agreement with what he said. He discussed the impending revolution and the manner in which he thought it should be carried out. He told his brother and Guerrero that they knew as well as he that the ideals that inflame revolutions never survive those revolutions intact. In the congress at the end of every revolution would be delegates of advanced ideas, of backward ideas, and of moderate ideas.

Long months, or even long years, of such a congress would not produce laws in accord with the ideals for which the people had shed their blood. The Liberal Party Program of 1906 would

^Ricardo to Marla, Dec. 6, 1908, in Gonz&lez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y textos, pp. 169-170. 166 meet the same fate. The rich would rebel against such a pro­ gram and the people, without bread, would listen to the bour­ geoisie telling them they must compromise. The results would be a new government little different from the last.

As anarchists we know all this well. . . . In order to ob­ tain great benefits for the people, effective benefits, to work as anarchists would easily crush us, yet for the same purpose we subject ourselves to leaders. All is reduced to a mere question of tactics. If from the first we had called ourselves anarchists, no one, or not but a few, would have listened to us. Without calling ourselves anarchists we have gone on planting in minds ideas of hatred against the possessing class and against the governmental caste. No liberal party in the world has the anti-capitalist tendencies of that about to produce a revolution in Mexico, and this has been achieved without saying that we are anarchists, even though we would not have succeeded had we entitled our­ selves, not anarchists as we are, but simply socialists. All, then, is a question of tactics.

We must give land to the people in the course of the revolu­ tion; so that the poor will not be deceived. There is not a single government which can benefit the country against the interests of the bourgeoisie. This you know well as anarchists, and for that reason, I do not need to demonstrate it with reasoning or examples. We must also give the people posses­ sion of the factories, mines, etc. In order not to turn the entire nation against us, we must follow the same tactics that we have practiced with such success: we will continue calling ourselves liberals in the course of the revolution but in reality we will be propagating anarchy and executing anarchistic acts. We must strip away the property of the bourgeoisie and restore it to the people. . . ,10

Flores Magon went on to describe other aspects of the revolution as he believed it would develop. He believed the

10 ^ R. Flores Magon to E. Flores Magon and Guerrero, June 13 and June 15, 1908, ibid., pp. 202-209. Villarreal is not mentioned in this letter, possibly indicating the break between him and Flores Magon had already occurred, but most certainly in­ dicating Villarreal did not agree with the views expressed. 167

Junta would be spared the "hateful job of giving a piece of land to everyone who asks for it" when workers saw the excel­ lence of the work done in common. Everyone would want to join in the communal production. He envisioned that the workers in each region dominated by the revolution would produce a sur­ plus that would maintain the soldiers of the revolution in other areas. The workers themselves would also be armed to defend what the revolution had given them from the "attacks delivered by the soldiers of the tyranny and the probable as­ saults struck by the gringos or some other nations." He realized new problems would be presented, but he believed they would not be too difficult to solve. He also expected help in this respect from Spanish and Italian anarchists.

Flores Mag6n felt a great deal of effort should be put into distributing anarchist literature to the people, reprinting books and pamphlets to be read by the millions. Yet he un­ realistically said only "the anarchists will know that we are anarchists," and he would advise them not to disclose this fact because the ignorant, "without knowing what are anar­ chist ideals, are accustomed to hearing anarchists spoken of in unfavorable terms."

Ricardo believed the Mexican anarchists "must culti­ vate international relations, but not with governments but with workers' organizations from all over the world whether they are simply trade-unionists, socialists, or anarchists."

In this respect, he rather wistfully wrote: 168

It is very possible that our revolution will break the European equilibrium and the proletariats there will decide to do what we have done. Perhaps if we carry out that which I propose the European powers will turn on us, but this will be the last act of the governmental farce, because I am sure our brothers on the other side of the ocean will not let us perish.H

Obviously, Flores Mag6n did not suddenly become an anarchist while in the Los Angeles County Jail. It was the culmination of a long period of development, something he must have been considering for some time. He felt he had been per­ secuted by the governments of both nations in which he had ever been, and this no doubt hastened him on his way to an acceptance of anarchism as a solution to the world’s problems.

Too, he had come to the United States originally because he was driven from Mexico for advocating a government for his country such as that the United States enjoyed. Once in the

United States, he began to see its system of government was a long way from perfection. He saw also that this nation’s government was a friend and supporter of the same Porfirio

Diaz he so violently opposed. Exactly when Flores Magon de­ cided he was an anarchist is unknown, although the letter to

Enrique and Guerrero indicates they had previously discussed the subject. Yet it is also a letter both reassuring and in­ formative, as if Ricardo were not certain his younger followers really knew what it meant to be an anarchist. It was to be

11 Ibid. 169 two or three years before Ricardo probably really knew very clearly what he believed.

Despite the developments in the political beliefs held by Flores Magon, the revolution by his Partido Liberal was made by men hopeful only of overthrowing Porfirio Diaz. In

1908, it was a revolution made by very few men, for the gov­

ernment effectively squelched most of the action before it

could begin on the date proposed, June 24. This date was

the anniversary of a number of executions carried out in Vera­

cruz in 1879, under orders from Diaz when he was first con- 13 solidating power. The only places any shooting occurred in

1908 were Viesca and Las Vacas, Coahuila, and the very

small village of Palomas, in Chihuahua.

Viesca, a small town in the southern part of Coahuila,

just a few miles east of Torreon, was the scene of the first

revolt in 1908. The grievances were more local here as the

Viesca Liberals, led by Benito Ibarra, chafed under the op­

pressive regime of the jefe politico, TomSs Zertuche Trevino.

Fortunately for his own personal safety, Zertuche went to

Torreon on June 24, avoiding the revolt.The revolt began on

12 Abad de Santillan, Ricardo Flores Magon. p. 56.

^Henry Bamford Parkes, A History of Mexico, 3rd ed., rev. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1960), p. 288. 14 Barrera Fuentes, Historia de la revoluci6n. p. 261; Martinez Nunez. La vida heroica. pp. 134-137; Guerrero, Arti- culos literarios, pp. 38-39. 170 the night of June 24 on the nearby Hacienda Los Hofnos. The police put up only a token resistance when the sixty or so rebels moved into Viesca itself. The jails were opened and the revolutionists took over the Presidencia municipal. a branch of the Bank of Nuevo Le6n, and attacked the home of

Zertuche. Railroads leading into the city were destroyed to prevent government forces from moving into Viesca. In the course of this revolt, carried out under the cries of " j Abaj o la dictadura!*1 and "{Viva el Partido Liberal!*1 only one man was killed.

After this mostly non-violent uprising, the Liberals were in command of Viesca for about a day and a half. Well organized and apparently popularly supported, the rebels had to give up the town on June 26 when federal troops from Torredn and Saltillo approached Viesca. The rebels moved on to the nearby town of Matamoros, where they encountered resistance from federal troops, who captured many of the Liberals and drove the rest from the area.*^ Of those captured, fifteen were tried and sentenced to terms ranging from three to twenty years in San Juan de UlGa. Fifteen more were sent to either the prison in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, or to the jail in Torreon.

^Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revolucidn, p . 261; Martinez Nunez, La vida heroica, pp. 134-137; Guerrero, Ar- ticulos literarios. pp. 38-39.

^Martinez Nunez, La vida heroica, p . 135. 171

One man, Jos# Lugo, who had been a leader once the revolt be­ gan, was sentenced to death and was executed in Saltillo on 17 August 3, 1910. Ibarra escaped capture. The Mexican govern­ ment estimated that the damage done by what it considered to be bandits amounted to about $20,000, the figure including the theft of money, arms, horses, and the like at Los Hornos, 18 Viesca, and Matamoros.

The Liberal Party leadership more directly organized and carried out the attack on Las Vacas, Coahuila, which was 19 immediately across the Rio Grande from Del Rio, Texas. An­ tonio de P. Araujo, the General Delegate of the Junta in

Texas, was most responsible for planning the attack on Las

Vacas. Araujo, less than a month before the attack, began publication of a monthly periodical in Austin, Texas, en­

titled Reforma, Libertad % Justicia. Tomas Sarabia was the

editor. The man who actually lead the Liberal forces at

Las Vacas was Encarnacion Diaz Guerra, an old regular army

1 ? , y Ibid., p. 141; Guerrero, Articulos literarios, pp. 46-47. When Lugo was executed, an American consul in Ciudad Porfirio Diaz wrote that Lugo made himself a hero to the revo­ lutionists by "refusing to be blindfolded and without exhibiting fear at the time he paid the death penalty for his crime." Luther T. Ellsworth to Secretary of State, Aug. 5, 1910, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-227.

1 O Creel to Root, July 11, 1908. 19 Las Vacas is today Ciudad Acuna. 20 See copy of Reforma, Libertad y. Justicia, June 15, 1908, in Dept, of State Records, NA, File 311.1221. 172 officer from Mexico whom the Junta commissioned a colonel in

1907. Araujo appointed him Commander in Chief of the Third 21 Zone of the North in the Liberal army.

Diaz Guerra submitted a complete report on the Las Va- cas battle. After Araujo delivered the arms to Del Rio on June

25,the rebels planned to attack in the early morning hours of

June 26. Colonel Jesfis N. Rangel was second in command to Diaz

Guerra. From the very beginning, the rebels suffered from lack of discipline. A Major Jesfis Longoria failed to obey orders to bring his cavalry forces up in time after crossing the river some miles downstream; nevertheless, the rebels began their at­ tack about 5 o'clock in the morning. Diaz Guerra mapped out a three-pronged attack against the federal positions. The center was led by "the valiant Benjamin Canales Garza," while "the right : was commanded by the "not less intrepid Basilic Ramirez," and on the left was plain Captain Pedro Arreola, who did not carry

out his orders. The battle with the federal forces lasted some

five hours before the rebels retreated about 10 o'clock. As

there were but between forty and sixty revolutionists involved,

with a good number of these being officers, Diaz Guerra's formal

report seemed somewhat ludicrous.22 21

21 Boynton to Attorney General, June 5, 1909, Dept. of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-106. 22 Report of Diaz Guerra taken from Araujo, Sept. 14, 1908, ibid., File 90755-147. 173

Guerrero, in his account, waxed poetic about the he­ roics of the Liberals. He exaggerated their deeds to such an extent that he was hard-pressed to explain how the revolution­ ists had somehow managed to lose, so he wrote "The enemy also accomplished great acts; those defenders of tyranny and slavery revealed their servilism in their acts." Guerrero also ex­ plained that the rebels lost because they ran out of ammuni- 23 tion. Eight to ten rebels were killed in the attack on Las

Vacas and about the same number wounded, including Rangel.

Federal losses were approximately the same.^ Some of the

rebels fled into the interior of Coahuila, others across the border into Texas. To Guerrero, Las Vacas was of great sig­

nificance: "Unfortunate event, murmur some voices. Example

teaching, stimulus, immortal episode of a revolution which will triumph, says logic.

The proposed attack on Ciudad Juarez from El Paso

developed in a manner similar to the 1906 plan. Informers

notified the authorities and on June 25, El Paso police,

working with police from Ciudad Juarez and the Mexican Con­

sul in El Paso, fell on the conspirators. A great horde

of arms and ammunition was seized and Prisciliano G. Silva, *2523

23 Guerrero, Articulos literarios, pp. 29-36.

^Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revolucion, p. 264; Creel to Root, July 11, 1908. 25 Guerrero, Articulos literarios, p . 36. 174 his son, Benjamin G . Silva, Jos§ Maria G. Ramirez, and Leo- cardio B. Trevino were arrested. Guerrero and Enrique Flores

Mag6n escaped capture.^ Following the dissolution of the plot in El Paso, Guerrero and the younger Flores Mag6n planned a somewhat pointless attack on Palomas, Chihuahua, which was not far from Columbus, New Mexico. Flores Mag6n was unable to take part in this raid as he "accidentally" shot himself between the toes just before the attack.^ Guerrero, his friend Manrique, and nine others attacked the small garrison at Palomas on the night of June 30. "Eleven and not one more, with the intention to try to save by an audacious move the

Revolution which seemed to be shipwrecked in the surf of o o treachery and cowardice," wrote Guerrero. One man on each side was killed in the unsuccessful attack. The Liberal who died was Manrique. Guerrero, his close friend of long standing, wrote: "This chapter in the history of freedom* 27

9 A .Creel to Root, July 11, 1908; Boynton to Attorney General, Oct. 17, 1908, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-19. 27 Enrique Flores Magon recalled the attack on Palomas as if he had taken part in it. See Kaplan, Combatimps la tirania, pp. 159-170. He eliminated himself with his "ac­ cident," however. Guerrero related this fact to Ethel Duffy Turner, who told it to me in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, June, 1965. Manuel Garza, another participant, told the identical story to Nicolas T. Bernal, who also related it to me in Mexico City, June, 1965. 2 Q ^ Guerrero, ArticUlos literarios, p . 42.

^ Creel to Root, July 11, 1908. 175 should be called FRANCISCO MANRIQUE; it should carry the name of that youth, almost a child, who died by the bullets of the tyranny on July 1, 1908, in the frontier village of Pa- lomas

The attempt at revolution in 1908 fared much like the revolution of two years earlier except that no action came from Veracruz in ,1908. Hilario C. Salas was still around, but the best he could do was to draw up a pact, signed by the revolutionary leaders in the area, to the effect that they would continue the struggle.Now, again, the leaders of this uprising would be hunted down by authorities in both the

United States and Mexico to pay the price of their activities; and the Liberals would say that betrayals had cost them suc­ cess. Guerrero wrote: "In 1908 the troops of the tyranny have in no place conquered. Treason crushed the triumph of the

Revolution: that is all."* 3132

As in 1906, the Mexican Ambassador, Enrique Creel, complained to the United States government, all the while de­ nying there was any real discontent in Mexico. Creel said that the magonistas, "Being desperate because of their complete failure iii accomplishing their chimerical and visionary schemes,

3®Guerrero, Artfculos literarios, p . 42. 31 Text in Padua, Movimiento revolucionario 1906, pp. 34-36.

32Guerrero, Artfculos literarios, p. 42. 176

[they] have changed their tactics by exciting the evil pas­ sions and appetites of certain Mexicans" on the frontier. He said these fugitives were chiefly in Texas. After discussing

Viesca, Las Vacas, El Paso, and Palomas, he stated, "No poli­ tical character can be assigned to the acts of brigandage to which I have referred. They are not political either in sub­ stance or form, nor in their motives, nor in any of their as­ pects," Just two years before the Diaz regime would crumble and fall, Creel said, "There is not even a shadow of a revo- lutionary movement in Mexico." A little over a week after this message to the Department of State, Creel wrote again to list the chief culprits. He said the most important men in the movement, other than Ricardo Flores Mag6n and Villarreal, were Araujo, Enrique Flores Magon, Guerrero, and TomSs

Sarabia. He believed all would be easy to convict on viola­ tions of the neutrality law.

Ricardo Flores Mag6n was in the Los Angeles County

Jail; it was therefore difficult for the United States of­ ficials to do much more against him. After Creel's complaints, however, Oscar Lawler, the United States Attorney in Los

Angeles, instructed the United States marshal in that city that the defendants should be held incommunicado. He said the

33Creel to Root, July 11, 1908. 34 IkM- > July 20, 1908. 177 jailor should be instructed to permit no one to interview the inmates and no correspondence should be received or sent by them. "I am prompted to this step," Lawler wrote, "by the idea that we should not only be sure that we are performing our full duty to the Mexican Government, but that we should avoid even the suspicion of failing in any respect in that di- rection." The resourceful Mexicans continued to write. In

December, 1908, Lawler summarized the difficulties the au­ thorities were having in stopping this activity. He said there had been restrictions from the first, but the prisoners con­ tinued "inciting opposition" to the Diaz government. When the revolts broke out in June, Lawler said, the authorities dis­ covered that though they had "completely stopped correspondence of other description, they were sewing under the bands of their soiled underclothing sent to be laundered communications writ­ ten on pieces of cloth. . . ." He also believed their attor­ neys, Job Harriman and A.R. Holston, were carrying out secret communications. Nobody but their attorneys could visit the prisoners after the June revolts until Rivera's wife was al­ lowed to see him in late November.^

Many of the letters that Ricardo did get out of the

Los Angeles County Jail were intercepted and turned over to

"^Lawler to Leonard Youngworth, July 6, 1908, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-4.

"^Lawler to Attorney General, Dec. 2, 1908, ibid., File 90766-45. 178 the Mexican authorities. They indicated that Flores Mag6n was able to do little in directing the revolt and, after he was taken to Arizona and imprisoned there, he lost most of his contacts with the other Liberals. He almost had to start anew in 1910, and by then it was too late. His letters in Los

Angeles also show that the Junta was breaking up, probably over the question of anarchism. Villarreal and Manuel Sarabia were being written off by Flores Mag6n the anarchist. In

October, 1908, he told Maria's daughter, Lucia Norman, not to write to Sarabia. He said, "Antonio is no longer a member of the Junta, and shortly Manuel will not be either." He con­ tinued to respect his attorney, however. In another letter, he said, "As for Harriman, Maria mine, he is a man I like very much because he is completely honest. Manuel and Antonio de­ test him because they are vicious and cowards by turn." Con­ cerning Ldzaro Gutierrez de Lara, Ricardo said he was a "man of good heart but weak," and he cautioned Maria to reveal nothing to him. Ricardo also said that the Liberal clubs affiliated with the Party were really socialist groups for their views on wealth and social inequality were the same as the socialists'.^

Rivera, as always, was in agreement with Flores Magon. In

37 . Ricardo to Lucia, Oct. 25, 1908, in Gonzalez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y textos, pp. 182-183. 38 Ricardo to Maria, Nov. 1, 1908, ibid., pp. 183-184. 39 Ricardo to Maria, undated, ibid., pp. 189-191. 179 early January, he wrote to his wife: "We.do not need the co­ operation of Manuel or of Antonio for anything; on the contrary the continuation of those two gentlemen-in-the- bosom of the

Junta would.be to .the.great prejudice-of-the liberty of the working class." He said both Sarabia and Villarreal were not considered members of the Junta.^ None of these cleavages would become public for another two years; for the moment,

Flores Mag6n was concentrating on other matters. "Maria and

Revolution are what occupy my heart," and probably not neces­ sarily in that order.

With Flores Magon at least in hand, the United States authorities turned to the Liberals still at large. As a re­ sult of the arrests in El Paso and the material confiscated, indictments for violation of the neutrality law were returned against Ricardo Flores Magon, Villarreal, Enrique Flores Mag6n,

Guerrero, the two Silvas, Ramirez, and Trevino.^ Only the

last four were in custody and they came to trial in El Paso

in October, 1908. On October 24, Prisciliano Silva and Trevino were found guilty and Judge T.S. Maxey sentenced them to two

years in Leavenworth Penitentiary. The Judge instructed a

40Rivera to his wife, early January, 1909, ibid., pp. 191-193. 41 Ricardo.to Maria, undated, ibid., pp. 189-191.

4^These charges prompted Attorney General Bonaparte to consider bringing Ricardo and Villarreal to trial in Texas rather than Arizona. 180 verdict of acquittal for the younger Silva and for Ramirez.^

At the time of the trial in El Paso, the United States authorities came into possession of the code letter Ricardo

Flores Mag6n had written to Enrique and Guerrero in which he discussed how, as anarchists, they would carry out the revolu­ tion. The letter was found in a trunk in Silva's home, and W.

H.L. Llewelly, Special Assistant to the Attorney Charles A

Boynton, was very concerned about it. "It is clearly indicated by this code letter that these people are real anarchists,"

Llewellyn told Washington. Since as alien anarchists they could be deported if they had been in the United States less than three years, the letter went to the Department of Commerce and Labor, which supervised immigration.^ Oscar Strauss, who was then Secretary of the Department of Commerce and Labor,

Wire, Boynton to Attorney General, Oct. 24, 1908 (Gen. Rees., Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, File 90755-26, NA). W.H.H. Llewellyn, a Special Assistant to the Attorney General, did not like the verdict. He wrote, "Judge Maxey, very much to the surprise of the United States Attorney Boynton and my­ self," instructed acquittal for Ramirez and Benjamin Silva. Llewelly said there was "not to my. mind a particle of doubt" that Ramirez was as guilty as the others. Llewellyn to At­ torney General, Oct. 24, 1908, ibid., File 90755-31. A wide­ ly reprinted portion of the testimony was by one of the ar­ resting officials who stated that the Chief of Police of Ciudad Juarez was at the scene of the arrest. It went: Q. And what authority had the Chief of Police of JuSrez in El Paso, Texas? A. The Chief of Police of El Paso told me to obey the Chief of Police of Juarez and the Mexican Consul. See The Border, Vol. I, No. 3 (Jan. 1909). 44 Llewellyn to Attorney General, Oct. 24, 1908, Dept. of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-30. 181 did not agree that Flores Mag6n had expressed his views as clearly as Llewellyn thought. He said Flores Mag6n had ex­ plicitly avowed himself an anarchist, "but without indicating very clearly what he means by that term." Strauss thought that "it would probably be unwise to conclude definitely on the evidence at hand that Magon and his associates are anar­ chists within the meaning of the immigration act.

Araujo, the highest-ranking leader of the Liberal

Party in Texas, was the next to fall into the hands of the authorities. After the Las Vacas revolt, Araujo, who was in­ dicted for that action, continued to try to publish Reforma,

Libertad y Justicia. He and Tom&s Sarabia intended to pub­ lish an issue from McAlester, Oklahoma. Before they were able to do so, Araujo was arrested in Waco, Texas, on Sep­ tember 14, 1908, by the indefatigable Thomas Furlong and the

Waco police.^ Araujo was tried and found guilty in January,

1909, and Judge Maxey sentenced him to two and one half years in Leavenworth.^ With the time Araujo had already spent in jail; this approached the three-year maximum sentence for the

45 Strauss to Root, Dec. 22, 1908, ibid., File 90755-47 46 Boynton to Attorney General, Sept. 6, 1909, ibid., File 90755-147; M.E. Diebold, Mexican Consul in St. Louis, Mis souri, to Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, Feb. 17, 1909, in Gonzalez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y textos, pp. 171-177. 47 Boynton to Attorney General, Jan. 22, 1909, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-52. 182 crime of violating the neutrality law. In sentencing Araujo,

Judge Maxey lectured him on the seriousness of his crime and 4 8 praised the government of General Diaz.

The military commander of the attack on Las Vacas,

EncarnaciSn Diaz Guerra, remained at large a little longer than Araujo. He was finally arrested on November 25, 1908, in Wilburton, Oklahoma, by Joseph Priest, a United States

Secret Service operative assigned to the Mexican revolution­ ary program. Priest was able to locate Diaz Guerra as a result of information supplied by the Furlong Secret Ser- vice Company. Diaz Guerra entered a plea of guilty to the charge of violating the neutrality law. With this plea,

and in consideration of his age and previously unblemished

record, Judge Maxey sentenced him to only eighteen months

in Leavenworth, despite his importance in the attack. Several

4 8 Enrique Ornelas, Mexican Consul in San Antonio, Texas, to Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, Jan. 22, 1909, in Gonzalez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y textos, pp. 216-217. Maxey received a great number of threats and protests after sentencing Araujo. One such led Attorney Boynton to ask pro­ tection for the Judge. It read, in part: "Judge Maxey, What are you judge of? whiskey or whores? Why you damned white livered son of a whores ghost you are not fit to carry swill to a blind hog." Unsigned letter to Maxey, Feb. 22, 1909, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-62. This type of American sympathizer did not help the Liberals' cause; how ever, Maxey may have regretted making public his prejudice against the revolutionaries. No other Liberal ever received such a severe sentence. 59 Boynton to Attorney General, June 5, 1909. In a report to the Mexican government, M.E. Diebold, the Consul in St. Louis, said that in the two years the Furlong company 183 other Liberals involved in the attack on Las Vacas were also tried and convicted in Del Rio in March, 1909.^

After the arrest of Diaz Guerro, it was to be almost a year before any more major arrests were made. Meanwhile, the authorities met continual fai-ure in their attempts to capture the men they believed to be the leaders of the revo­ lutionists, Enrique Flores Mag6n and PrSxedis G. Guerrero.

Actually, they were only half-right. After the attack on Pa-

lomas, Flores Magdn and Guerrero went to Albuquerque, New

Mexico, and then to California. In San Francisco, Enrique went to work at the American Can Company, leaving the move­ ment again, and Guerrero worked his way back to El Paso to try to reorganize the Liberal forces.United States At­

torney Boynton said in April, 1909, "I am very anxious, and have been for many months past, that Enrique Flores Magon. . .

a n d Praxedis G. Guerrero be captured." He believed this

Tzould be accomplished by the fall of 1909.

had been employed by Mexico, its agents had covered 180,480 kilometers in this endeavor, with never more than six agents. These agents operated in the states of California, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Texas. Diebold to Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores, Feb. 17, 1909.

^Memorandum by Dept, of Justice, May 7, 1909, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-86. 51 Martinez Nunez, La vida heroica, p . 171. 5 2 Boynton, to Attorney General, Apr. 23, 1909, ibid.. File 90755-86. 184

Guerrero well knew he was a wanted man. He said,

"the despots of North America have covered [the frontier areas] with open-jawed Federal officers . . . promising the extermina­

tion of any who disturb the shameless peace which they dominate."

Guerrero accepted and propagated the idea that the Mexican gov­

ernment bribed American officials to persecute the Liberals.

"These butchers of men count their victims by the amount of money jingling in their pockets." Despite all the Liberals in

jail, Guerrero defiantly reaffirmed: "Arrests cannot deprive

C T us of our love of liberty."

Guerrero was unable to get anything started in 1909,

but he continued to plan. He traveled over Texas and even 54 went into Mexico to encourage Liberal activity. Carrying

on with the idea of Ricardo Flores Mag6n that the working

classes of the world would come to the aid of the Mexicans,

Guerrero began to address manifestos to workers in general.

One such, signed by both Enrique Flores Magon and Guerrero,

was addressed "To the workmen of all countries." Probably

written by Guerrero, the manifesto stated that the Mexican

struggle was .only one episode in the worldwide struggle of

53 Translations of Guerrero's writings in Ells­ worth to Assistant Secretary of State, Oct. 1, 1909, Dept. of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-189.

“^Martinez Nunez, L^a vida heroica, pp. 174-175. 185 the impoverished against the wealthy: "The Mexican proletariat should be free and no price will be too high for the acquisi­ tion of that liberty." The manifesto concluded with, "Yours for human emancipation." Later, passionately describing the history of Mexico as he saw it, Guerrero wrote that his country had suffered "the sacrifices of her virginity and her youthfulness at the altar of the Jehovah of the continent which is called Yankee Capitalism. . . .

Guerrero spent part of the early summer of 1909 in San

Antonio, Texas, working with his two principal co-conspirators,

Tomas Sarabia and Jestis M. Rangel, the latter under indict­ ment for the attack on Las Vacas, but still free. From San

Antonio, Guerrero went back to El Paso and in August, 1909, he launched a new periodical, Punto Rojo. In this endeavor he was assisted by an American Socialist named William

Lowe. Guerrero, hunted as he was, had to remain in hiding and write under pseudonyms. From El Paso, Guerrero main­ tained a constant correspondence with Sarabia, Rangel, and others. He, too, faced the old Liberal problem of not having 56*55

55 Manifesto, undated, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-156.

56Ibid., File 90755-178. c? Martinez Nunez, La vida heroica, pp. 176-177, 179- 181. 186 enough money. He wrote Sarabia that "Without money we cannot go as fast as we like." In this same letter, Guerrero dis­ cussed the health of Ricardo Flores Magon, now in the Yuma,

Arizona, territorial prison:

Ricardo is very sick, he is suffering with nervous prostration.and bilious disorders, and has been trans­ ferred to the hospital; but his condition will not be better there, even if he does not get worse, for the climate of Yuma is exceedingly hot. Our unfortunate companion is a mere shadow of what he was a year and a half ago. Curses upon his infamous and cowardly mur­ derers 1 Ah, how many things the twin tyrannies of North America owe to us 1

Guerrero closed the letter by advising Sarabia that "In­ structions in these moments are reduced to one word only

--Work."58 59

The work that Sarabia and Rangel engaged in was the collecting of arms and ammunition for new attacks on the dictatorship. This work was cut short when the two of them were arrested in their room in San Antonio on August 10, 59 1909. Rangel was already indicted for violation of the neutrality law, while Sarabia was held for the grand jury.

John Murray and the Chicago-based Political Refugee Defense

League had aided the defense of other Liberals who had been arrested, but they now seized on the arrest of Rangel and

58 Guerrero to Sarabia, July 25, 1909, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-156. 59 Charles Creeson, Assistant United States Attorney, to Attorney General, Aug. 12, 1909, ibid., File 90755-129. 187

Sarabia to make protests against the Diaz government. For example, President William Howard Taft was scheduled to meet

Diaz in El Paso in the fall of 1909 and the League strongly opposed this proposed conference. Murray and Mother Jones were the principal speakers at week-long open air meetings the League held in San Antonio to demonstrate against the

Mexican government and for union organization. They played on the theme that if Mexican wages did not rise, American wages would go down, as they would seek a common level.

The only hope for Mexican wages to rise would be the im­ mediate deposition of Porfirio Diaz.^

On the coming meeting between the Presidents of the two nations, the following resolution was passed at one of the meetings:

WHEREAS a well known law breaker from Mexico by the name of Porfirio Diaz proposes to meet and shake hands with the President of the United States at El Paso, and

WHEREAS the said Diaz has killed not less than 30,000 of his countrymen who have at various times sought to maintain the Laws of Mexico.

Therefore be it resolved by the people of San Antonio in a mass meeting assembled that the President of the United States be informed of this attempt of a criminal to approach the head of the Nation, and that the police be instructed to watch the border for his appearance and arrest him the moment he steps over the line.61

^Reported by Eugene Nolte, United States Marshal, Western District of Texas, to Attorney General, Aug. 27, 1908, ibid., File 90755-137.

^ Ibid. Guerrero also took note of the Dlaz-Taft meeting. He wrote Sarabia: "Because the famous interview be- 188

The meetings created considerable excitement and il­ lustrated that the Mexican population of San Antonio was hos­ tile toward Diaz, but they had no effect on the proceedings against Rangel and Sarabia. On January 14, 1910, a jury re­ turned a verdict of guilty against Rangel, who was thereupon sentenced to eighteen months in Leavenworth. The govern­ ment was unable to produce any concrete evidence against

Sarabia when hearings on his case were held before United

States.Commissioner Earl D. Scott in early September. Sarabia was so sure he did not have a chance that he urged that money sent in for his defense go to the cause instead. As with so many of the Liberals who were brought into the limelight of publicity, Sarabia made an unusual impression on the reporters covering his hearing. One wrote: "Pistols and guns and mani­ festoes signed by generals of the revolutionary movement were the last things suggested by the little man in black clothing with the demure countenance and big, innocent looking brown

tween two Sovereigns from Mexico and Yankeeland will be held, in anticipation of trouble, spies will go among revolutionists and suspects along the frontier, that fears may not disturb the enjoyment of the magnanimous oppressors. We must get ready to Hurrah 1 Oh! the tightness of the lasso that oppresses us." Guerrero to Sarabia, July 25, 1909. 62 Boynton to Attorney General, Jan. 14, 1910, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-170. 63 ^Clippings from the San Antonio Daily Express, Sept. 1, 1909, ibid., File 90755-145. 189

One reason why Liberals made such impressions is that seemingly many years were required before most Americans re­ cognized the revolutionists along the border as educated, dedicated, and often idealistic men. The rebels were oper­ ating in an area of strong racial prejudice. A United States

Marshal believed that the "Mexican people living on our bor­ ders are treacherous, clandestine and secretive. . . . .M —

Luther T. Ellsworth, the American Consul of Ciudad Porfirio

Diaz, across from Eagle Pass, Texas, typified this prejudice.

Ellsworth took such an interest in what he called "vigilancing" the border area that the Department of Justice made him a ./ special representative to supervise the work of preventing violations of the neutrality law.^ To Ellsworth, Mexicans were of two types: good and bad. Happily for him, as he seemed to enjoy "vigilancing," the "bad" type populated much of the border area. "The Bad Element among the Mexicans a- long the Border, take kindly to Socialism, . .," he informed the Department of State.After the Murray-Mother Jones meetings in San Antonio, Ellsworth said the "influence of

^Nolte to Attorney General, July 3, 1909, ibid.. File 90755-121.

^Attorney General Samuel W. Wickersham to All Of­ ficers of the Department of Justice, Nov. 11, 1909, ibid.. File 90755-166.

^Ellsworth to Secretary of State, Aug. 2,1910, ibid.. File 90755-227. 190 such agitators . . . is always harmful when exercised among

Mexicans. . . ."^7 ■

Guerrero, of course, was one of the agitators who tried to keep the magonists in the forefront of the opposi­ tion, but without much success. Constantly hunted and chased from El Paso to San Antonio and other points, Guerrero narrow­ ly escaped capture in February, 1910, when the Federal Bur­ eau of Investigation closed in on him in Houston, Texas. He escaped only by exiting from a hotel by a second-story win­ dow.The next month Punto Rojo was suppressed and Guerrero spent the next two months hiding in Bridgeport, Derby, and

San Antonio, Texas. He continued running, hiding, and writing until August of 1910, when he went to Los Angeles to join the now-freed Ricardo Flores Magon, Villarreal, and Rivera.^ The

"notorious revolutionist who is still at large along the bor-

der" was ever the man of action for the magonistas. Soon, his penchant for action would kill him.

Meanwhile, Mexico was about to erupt. Since Diaz

gave an interview in 1908 saying he welcomed opposition

7 'Ellsworth to Asst. Secretary of State, Sept. 7, 1909, ibid., File 90755-157.

68Ibid., Feb. 12, 1910, File 90755-175. 69 Martinez Nunez, La vida heroica, pp. 184-192,

78Ellsworth to Asst. Secretary of State, March 17, 1910, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-178. 190 such agitators . . . is always harmful when exercised among

Mexicans. . . ' ■ .

Guerrero, of course, was one of the agitators who tried to keep the magonists in the forefront of the opposi­ tion, but without much success. Constantly hunted and chased from El Paso to San Antonio and other points, Guerrero narrow­ ly escaped capture in February, 1910, when the Federal Bur­ eau of Investigation closed in on him in Houston, Texas. He escaped only by exiting from a hotel by a second-story win­ dow .^ The next month Punto Rojo was suppressed and Guerrero spent the next two months hiding in Bridgeport, Derby, and

San Antonio, Texas. He continued running, hiding, and writing until August of 1910, when he went to Los Angeles to join the 69 now-freed Ricardo Flores Magon, Villarreal, and Rivera. The

"notorious revolutionist who is still at large along the bor- der" was ever the man of action for the magonistas. Soon, his penchant for action would kill him.

Meanwhile, Mexico was about to erupt. Since Diaz gave an interview in 1908 saying he welcomed opposition

^Ellsworth to Asst. Secretary of State, Sept. 7, 1909, ibid., File 90755-157.

68Ibid., Feb. 12, 1910, File 90755-175.

^Martinez Nunez, Lzi vida heroica, pp. 184-192. 70 Ellsworth to Asst. Secretary of State, March 17, 1910, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-178. 191

parties, the country had been in a turmoil. The activity con­

tinued after it was known that Diaz had not meant what he said.

The election coming up in 1910 pitted Diaz against an un­

likely revolutionist named Francisco I. Madero. The results

of that election would plunge Mexico into a revolution. Tex­

as was to be the base for men desiring to carry out a politi­

cal revolution in Mexico. After August, Ricardo Flores Magon

went to California to direct the economic revolution that

never came. As Guerrero said, "All things move and Mexico,

even with the weight of tyrants, will eventually take its

place in the Palaestra of the world.Mexico would move

violently in the years ahead, and Ricardo Flores Magon ul­

timately had a great deal to say about the direction in which

the country moved. But Mexico listened to Flores Magon of

1906, not the Flores Mag6n of 1910.

71 Manifesto, undated, ibid., File 90755-178. CHAPTER VII

SUCCESS AND FAILURE: THE REVOLUTION OF 1910

"Mexicans, salvation is not the electoral bal­ lot. . . .

"Mexicans: Death to Madero and the capitalist system! Long live Land and Liberty!"

— Ricardo Flores Magon^

Once Ricardo Flores Magon was released from prison, on August 3, 1910, it was only a matter of a few months be­ fore a successful Mexican revolution would begin. From the first, he recognized that most of the leaders of this move­ ment against Porfirio Diaz only sought political liberties in Mexico. By 1910, Flores Magon had come to regard such a goal as meaningless. From the moment of his release, he ar­ gued fervently that only economic freedom would benefit the

Mexican people. He opposed the maderistas as zealously as he had opposed Diaz. In the revolution itself magonistas played a significant role and Madero plowed a field made fertile by ten years of work by Flores Magon and his follow­ ers. But only in the area of Baja California, isolated from

^Regeneracion, June 10, 1911.

192 193 most of Mexico, did the followers of Flores Mag6n achieve any measure of success in the name of their leader. It was fleet­ ing success, at that. Ricardo Flores Magon captained a sinking ship in the last months of 1910 and throughout 1911. As his aspirations became more sublime, his followers became fewer. By the end of the year, he had become virtually a leader without

a following.

Flores Mag6n, Antonio I. Villarreal, and Librado Ri­

vera completed their sentences in the territorial penitentiary

at Florence, Arizona, to which they had been transferred from

Yuma. "Let us arouse the nation's workers and point to

Florence. . . the third day of August," said the Socialist The 2 Appeal to Reason. With the obviously rapidly developing

new revolutions against Diaz, great interest was aroused in

the release of Flores Magon and the others with their reputa­

tions as revolutionists. On their release, the Mexicans went

to Los Angeles, California. Most of the opponents of Diaz,

who were now fleeing Mexico in great numbers, went to Texas.

It was apparent that the new moves against the Mexican govern­

ment would come from that state. Why, then, did Flores Mag6n

go back to California? Perhaps the answer lies in the fact

that he and Villarreal were both still under indictment in

2 ‘ The Appeal to Reason, July 30, 1910 (italics theirs), Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-228. 194

Texas for violation of the neutrality laws in connection with

the uprisings of 1908. If the government intended to prosecute

them, however, it is likely they would have been arrested the T minute they left the penitentiary. Probably the contacts and

sympathy that they had acquired in Los Angeles in 1907 and

1908 contributed to the decision to return to California.

Nevertheless, it helped pull Flores Magon farther away from

the center of revolutionary activities and he had three years

to make up.

In Los Angeles, the Mexicans were warmly greeted by

friends. On August 7, the Socialist Party sponsored a rally

for them in the Union Labor Temple which drew a crowd of 2,000.

Their Los Angeles attorneys, A.R. Holston and Job Harriman,

both spoke at the rally, as did Villarreal. Wild applause and

cries of "Long live the Revolution!" greeted each of the Mexi­

cans when he was introduced. To help them get back into the

fight, $414.66 was collected at the rally.^ This money would

go to help reestablish Regeneraci6n; that paper was about to

3 The United States authorities were not interested in further prosecutions. United States Attorney Charles A. Boynton in Texas said he thought that it would be difficult to bring the case to trial as Judge T.S. Maxey would likely be­ lieve the Mexicans had served enough time. Boynton to Attorney General, July 2, 1910, ibid., File 90755-212.

^Clipping from The People's Paper (Los Angeles), Aug. 13, 1910, ibid., File 90755-239. 195 begin its third and last epoch. The first issue appeared on

September 3, 1910, with Anselmo L. Figueroa as the editor. He had become an adherent of Flores Magdn a few years earlier in

Los Angeles. He rarely wrote anything for the paper, being more of a business manager.

The editors came out of prison with their goals un­ shaken. "Here we are again. Three years of forced labor in the penitentiary have but tempered our character like a blade of steel. Pain but burnishes the hearts of the strong. The lash whips us into rebellion, not into submission. . . ."

Flores Magon was also still operating under the mask of the

Liberal of 1906, as the greeting continued, "Here we are again in the field, the torch of revolution in our right hand and the program of the Liberal Party in the left, and we declare war. We are not whining messengers of peace, we are revolu­ tionists. Our ballots will be the bullets issuing from our rifles."^ In the same issue, Villarreal wrote an article en­ titled, "Mexican: your best friend is a gun." He said, "Pa­ cific means in Mexico have ceased to educate, that we know by painful experience, and they have ever brought, and ever will bring, ruin to those who depend on them." Villarreal urged that every Mexican buy a gun, a 30-30, and learn to use it.

^Regeneraci6n, Sept. 3, 1910. 196

"Liberty is within tl>e reach of your hands if in them rests

a gun."v

In this, the first issue of the paper, Flores Magon made clear what he thought the Mexicans should be fighting

for. He addressed a message "To the Proletarians" in which

he warned them not to take up arms just to unseat Diaz and

put in his place another master. Actually, this article was

directed especially against the proposed candidacy of General

Bernardo Reyes, but it would apply to all future leaders in

Mexico. "Political liberty requires as an adjunct another

liberty to be effective, and that is economic liberty. The

rich enjoy economic liberty as well and for that reason in

reality they alone are benefited by political liberty." He

told the proletarians they would be the real force of the

revolution. "Go to the battlefield, enter the portals of

history to make history of your own for your own selves, for

your own class, and with it for all. Glory awaits you . . . 7 to see you break your chains on the skulls of your hangmen."

The next few months saw much of the same in Regenera-

cion. Flores Mag6n did most of the writing in the paper, but

received ample assistance from Villarreal, PrSxedis G. Guerr­

ero, and Leizaro Gutierrez de Lara. In addition, one of the

6Ibid.

7Ibid. 197 four pages was in English, under the editorship of Alfred G.

Sanftleben, a Los Angeles Socialist. He did this work gratis O in his free time. The paper also, on one occasion, carried an article on the Mexican situation written by Manuel Sarabia and reprinted from Justice, the organ of the Social Democra­

tic Federation of Great Britain.® From all outward appearances, there seemed to be great solidarity in the Flores Mag6n, or

Liberal, movement.

After so many years of opposing Porfirio Diaz, the

Liberals, when they began to realize that he must finally fall,

must have been exhilirated. But they did not want him to es­

cape unpunished. GutiSrrez de Lara addressed a message to the

old dictator: "And you, Diaz, the murderer of your race, are

already almost drowning in the tears and blood of your vic­

tims. Men despise you, women hate you, and children curse

you. Live a little longer that you may suffer and that the

people might chastize you while you are alive. Live . . . live

a little longer. . . ."1"0

8 Sanftleben was one of the first Americans to come to the support of Flores Magon after he was arrested in 1907. He helped develop much interest among Los Angeles Socialists in the case of the Mexicans. See R.S. Carmona to Manuel Sarabia, Aug. 28, 1907, in Gonzalez Ramirez, ed., Epistolario y textos, pp. 197-200. 9 Regeneracidn, Oct. 29, 1910.

10Ibid., Sept. 17, 1910. 198

Having spent so many years in the United States, the

Liberals gave considerable space in their paper to activities

there. They may have become more aware of the social prob­

lems of Mexicans in the United States than they were of those

in their native country. In an article entitled "Are the Mexi­

can Children Beasts?" GutiSrrez de Lara discussed the dis-

• crimination against Mexican working men in the United States.

He said that there were no schools available to their children

in such states as Texas, Arizona, and others along the border.

He believed the establishment of a working class government in

Mexico would change this situation, though how, he did not

clarify.Villarreal called on the Mexicans in the United

States to "organize and rise to manhood," believing unionism

would "not only improve the standard of living of Mexicans, it

will also put a stop to the,degrading humiliation and irri­

tating outrages heaped upon our race." It was an act of man­

hood, as well as a duty, for Mexican workers to join a labor

union.^

Guerrero also concerned himself with the United States,

warning that nation not to intervene in the coming Mexican re­

volt. For the United States to try to annex Mexico or in­

tervene in that country's affairs would be "incomparably worse"

n ibid., Oct. 8, 1910.

12Ibid., Nov, 19, 1910. 199 than the Philippine Islands' experience. To try to avoid the social problems of both nations through intervention would only put off the problems until later. "To face them with the

light of reason might save two peoples from a grave disaster."

He called on "lovers of justice" to prevent intervention, whether it was "presented as being in favor of tyranny or in

favor of the Mexican people, for in either case it will prove

a foolish act of tragic, if not disastrous, results.

The Liberals also depended on residents of the United

States for financial support. Their first call was for enough

subscriptions to obtain a second class mailing permit. They

also needed cash and they called on American working men to

help them in these needs. By early November, they were pub­

lishing 12,000 copies a week, and although application had

been made ten weeks earlier, they still had not been granted

the second class privilege. "Shall we go under?" they asked

the American people in another appeal for funds.^ Finally,

on November 19, the United States Post Office Department

granted the second class privilege and the editors happily

announced "Regeneracion will not die."1^

13Ibid., Oct. 29, 1910.

14Ibid., Sept. 3, 1910.

15Ibid.. Nov. 12, 1910.

16Ibid., Nov. 26, 1910. 200

Meanwhile, Madero had issued his Plan of San Luis Potosl

and his revolution was off to a sputtering start. By the mid­

dle of November, he appeared to have been defeated; his move­ ment only later gained momentum.17 Flores Mag6n was not unhap­

py about the early turn of events, and he said, "The defeat of

Mr. Madero will only strengthen the Liberal Party. . . ." He

wrote that now the Liberal Party had a chance

. . . to make it clear to the well meaning people who in all sincerity affiliated with the Madero cause, that the only party in the field with principles is the Liberal Party. [This Party has] nothing in common with the Ma- derist party, nor with any other party of the bourgeoisie. °

What were the Liberals’ principles? On October 1, 1910, Flores

Magon first used the expression "Tierra % Libertad," Land and 19 Liberty, the long-standing agrarian-anarchist battle cry. The

principles the Liberal Party stood for were not exactly clear,

but its Program of 1906 asked for reform, liberty, and justice,

and not simply land and liberty. Almost a month before Madero

began his revolt, Flores Magon wrote,

The revolution is coming. Let us retake the land to give it back to the people. Let us take from labor the badge of infamy. . . .20

On the other hand, Francisco I. Madero would* 1

^Ross, Francisco I. Madero, pp. 111-130 1 O Regeneracidn, Nov. 26, 1910.

19Ibid., Oct. 1, 1910.

20Ibid., Oct. 29, 1910. 201 have been satisfied with achieving effective suffrage and no reelection.

Madero, still in Texas and with little activity in the field, continued to represent the revolution. This led to the first open break in the Liberal ranks. On December

10, 1910, Sanftleben printed a translation of the Plan of San

Luis Potosi and explained why the Liberals were joining hands 21 with the forces of Madero to bring down the dictatorship.

The following week "A Correction" appeared in which the edi­ tors, probably Flores Magdn, explained that the article on

Madero's plan was a mistake and should never have been printed.

The Liberal Party has not joined hands with the Ma- derists. It has not endorsed and will not endorse either Madero or his program. The Liberal Party is a working class movement. If it triumphs it will proceed at once to returning the stolen lands of the people to their rightful owners.

The Maderist Party would merely restore the republi­ can constitution. It would not break up the big ha­ ciendas, which are one of the chief bulwarks of the slavery and peonage under which at least one-third of our people are living. We believe that the time has passed for middle class revolutions. The revolu­ tion of the Liberal Party will be a working class revolution.22

Sanftleben resigned his position just before this correction was published. He said he could not. "fathom the economics

21Ibid., Dec. 10, 1910.

22Ibid., Dec. 17, 1910. 202 and the policies nor reconcile the utterances with the tac- 2 3 tics of the Liberal Party of Mexico." The partially con­ cealed anarchism of Flores Magon would lead to several more defections: in the next few weeks.

The anarchism of the Mexican Liberal Party became less concealed with each passing week. In early December, the United States Department of Justice became concerned with the anarchistic nature of some of the material in Re­ generation. The particular article in question dealt with the use of violence: "Violence which frees is no crime; it is a virtue. Dynamite which destroys oppressors is the 24 fruitful and glorious force of progress and emancipation."

The legal authorities decided, however, that there was no basis on which they could stop the publication and mailing 25 of such writings. Porfirio Diaz called Flores Mag6n an anarchist in 1906, and persons in authority in both the

United States and Mexico had been calling him an anarchist ever since. It seems only the people who were following his

leadership failed to realize this development in the views of Flores Magon.

23 * Ibid., Dec. 24, 1910.

24Ibid., Dec. 10, 1910. 25 See correspondence on this question in Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-383. 203

Other than the resignation of Senftleben, who left in all friendliness, the offices of Regeneracidn were marked by congeniality in the last months of 1910. Daily, Guerrero,

Rivera, Villarreal, Figueroa, and the now-returned Enrique

Flores Magon gathered in the main office, writing and talking.

Ricardo occupied a small office on the second floor, where he would spend hour after hour in his writing. The John Kenneth

Turners were now back in Los Angeles, and Ethel Turner, as­ sisted by Villarreal, usually prepared the English page for 7 A publication, even before Senftleben resigned. With the issue .of January 7, 1911, Mrs. Turner became editor of the 27 English page. The Riveras made their home in the same building as the office and Concha Rivera and a number of other women prepared the noon meal for the paper's staff.

Mrs. Turner recalled that this time was a highlight of the day, with the lively young Guerrero or the gregarious En­ rique leading the conversation. Rivera, whom Juan Sarabia dubbed the Fakir some years earlier for his resemblance to the immovable men of the East, spoke and wrote little. Ri- 2 R cardo also rarely talked, but was an attentive listener.

This aspect of Flores Magon's personality may explain, in

7 A °E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores Magon, pp. 206-207. 27 Regeneracion. Jan. 7, 1911. 2 8 E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores Magon, p. 206; inter­ view with Mrs. Turner, June, 1965. 204 part, why several of the men close to him failed to under­ stand his views. . .

The Regeneracidn group bore little resemblance to a would-be director of a revolution. Indeed, the accomplish­ ments of the Liberals on the battlefields were never of great significance. Some time before Madero began his re­ volt, the banner of the Partido Liberal had been raised once again in Veracuz. C&ndido Donato Padua had become the director of the Liberal forces there, and those forces had been strengthened by the adherence of Santana Rodriguez

Palafox, better known as Santanbn. Santan6n had gained a measure of fame as a leader of bandits operating in the mountains of Veracruz. Apparently, he had been sincerely

converted to the Liberal cause and had set his goals beyond mere raiding and thieving by 1910. Padua and Santandn planned

to attack San Andres Tuxtla, some miles south of the city of

Veracruz, take the city and the bank, and, hopefully, begin a

revolution in Veracruz. The Liberals strove to arouse the farm

laborers in the area into a general revolt. To facilitate

this plan, Santandn went out into the countryside to recruit

workers for their army before he and Padua assaulted San

Andres Tuxtla. On October 17, 1910, however, Santandn, with

fifty-nine men, met a force of about sixty rurales, plus ad­ 205 ditional federal cavalry troops. These forces were under the command of Colonel Manuel Jaso.and Captain Francisco CErdenas. In a pitched battle near Acayucan, the Liberals were defeated and

Santanon killed. Once again, Liberal plans in Veracruz had gone awry. Later, Liberal partisans played large roles in the revolution in the state of Veracruz, but only in conjunction with other groups. They could never maintain a separate existence.

The next important Liberal activities on the fields of battle were led by Guerrero. That restless spirit could not be satisfied remaining in Los Angeles encouraging his countrymen to revolt. Unlike Flores Magon, Guerrero believed he should be in the field leading the forces. At the end of

November, against the wishes of his companions in Los Angeles,

Guerrero left for the Revolution. Just before leaving town,

Guerrero went to the Turners' house and gave Ethel Turner many of his personal effects for his sister in Leon, Guanajuato.

"If I do not return, Ethel, send them to her," he said, "and I know that I will not return.Accompanied by Gutierrez de

Lara, Guerrero went to El Paso, Texas, to initiate his assault on the state of Chihuahua. In that city, he could draw on the

29 Padua, Movimiento revolucionario 1906, pp. 114-121; Hernandez, La historia de la revolucion, pp. 85-92. 30 E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores Magon, p . 207. Further evidence of Guerrero's fatalism is illustrated by the fact that before he left California he gave all his books to Antonio Rivera, one of Librado's children. See Martinez Nunez, La vida heroica, p . 233n. 206 services of a number of veterans of the long magonista strug­ gle against the dictatorship. Prisciliano G. Silva, now out of Leavenworth, and his son, Benjamin, were ready to try again

Lazaro Alanis, Jestis Longoria, Calixto Guerra, and other veter ans of the attack on Las Vacas in 1908 were also prepared to follow Guerrero. Jose InSs Salazar, who had been with

Guerrero at Palomas, and a number of newcomers completed the force of about twenty-two men.3*

Guerrero hoped to capture a number of small towns in

Chihuahua, to arouse the populace, and to establish a base

for an attack on the city of Chihuahua. On December 19, he

led his force into Mexico, advanced south of Ciudad Juarez,^

and on December 23 commandeered a train of the Railway of

the Northwest. The Liberals remained on the train, blowing

up bridges as-they went, until the reached the small town of

Guzmdn. The Liberals had picked up recruits on the way and

Guerrero now divided his forces, keeping thirty-two men with

himself, and sending Prisciliano Silva and GutiSrrez de Lara

with seventeen others to operate in other parts of Chihuahua.

Well armed and with horses taken from a nearby hacienda,

Guerrero and his troops left Guzmdn and marched off to the

south toward Casas Grandes. The rebels took the village of

31 Ibid., pp. 221-222. 207

Corralitos and on December 28, Guerrero boldly telephoned the officials in Casas Grandes and demanded that they sur­ render the town. Casas Grandes had a federal force of about

450 soldiers, as well as rurales and other police officers.

The jefe politico, Francisco Mateos, did not know how many men Guerrero had with him, and he sent off frantic messages to Chihuahua. Troops from Ciudad Judrez were ordered to

Casas Grandes, but before they arrived, Guerrero gave up the area and marched back to Corralitos with his thirty-two 32 men. Mateos was relieved that Casas Grandes had been spared.

On December 29, Guerrero abandoned Corralitos and marched toward Janos, a village thirty-five kilometers to the northwest. He demanded the surrender of the city, but Guada­ lupe Zozaya, presidente municipal of the town, asked for time.

Zozaya immediately sent word to Casas Grandes asking for help.

In the evening, Guerrero discovered what had happened and immediately attacked Janos. Zozaya had approximately the shme number of troops at his disposal as did the Liberals, but the rebels were able to take the town. Minutes after the vic­ tory was secured, about midnight, the troops Casas Grandes, numbering around 150, arrived. The rebels were driven from the city, but not before they suffered the loss of Guerrero.

32Ibid., pp. 222-231.

33Ibid., pp. 233-239. 208

At the age of twenty-eight, the brilliant young Liberal was dead. It was a loss of considerable magnitude; the Liberals were not blessed with men who could be inspiring leaders on the field of battle as well as in the pages of a paper.

Ricardo Flores Magdn was deeply moved by the death of

Guerrero. It is probable that he had a stronger feeling for his youthful follower than for anyone else associated with him in his struggles. Also, Guerrero probably more closely

approximated complete agreement with Ricardo than anyone

save the doggedly faithful Rivera. Ricardo wrote:

Guerrero is dead, says the delegate of the Junta. On the glorious day of Janos~Praxedis G. Guerrero, the young fighter for liberty gave up his life.

. . . Praxedis and Francisco [Manrique], a beautiful pair of dreamers of a better humanity, were inseparable comrades, whom only death could tear apart and that not for long. . . .

Pr&zedis was the soul of the movement for freedom. Un­ hesitatingly it can be said that PrSxedis was one of the purest, worthiest, most intelligent, self-denying and bravest men that ever espoused the cause of the dis­ inherited, and the vacancy caused by his departure can never be filled. Where can a man be found so free from personal ambitions of any kind, all brain and heart, brave and active as he was?

The proletariat has hardly yet realized the enormous loss suffered in that man. Without exaggeration it may be said that it is not Mexico that has lost one of her best sons, but that it was all humanity, for PrSxedis was a fighter for the freedom of all.

And yet I cannot grasp the loss and give credence to the terrible reality. At any moment a hope hidden deep within my heart tells me that a comforting tele­ gram will come saying that PrSxedis is still among the living. The brutal truth cannot destroy in the deepest 209

recesses.of my 'heart a last remnant of hope like a flicker­ ing light ready to go out.. And my tortured mind still hopes to meet him in his favorite haunts, in' the office where we used to dream with him.the dream of the dawn of social emancipation, and my restless eye seeks the mar­ tyr bent over his table of toil, writing, writing, writing.34

Guerrero, suspicious of most North..Americans, had established a warm friendship with the Turners. On his death, John Ken­ neth Turner wrote: "The price of despotism in a given coun­ try is the blood of her best and bravest sons. Of the thou­ sands of good and brave men whom Porfirio Diaz has killed in order to perpetuate his personal rule over Mexico, I cannot believe that any was better or braver than Praxedis Guerrero."

After the defeat of Guerrero, the Liberals' one area of success was in Baja California. Here, the Liberal army was composed only in part of Mexicans, being made up mainly of American Socialists, members.of the.Industrial Workers of the World, soldiers of fortune, and drifters. This was a campaign of great controversy, both then and later, but was of rather limited significance in the development of the

Revolution.3^ The activities on the peninsula did help gain

^ Regeneration, Jan. 14, 1911.

35Ibid.

°The Baja California aspects of.the Flores Magon movement have been well covered in Lowell L. Blaisdell's The Desert Revolution: Baja California, 1911 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1962). Also see Pablo L. Martinez, His- toria de Baja California, 2nd ed..(Mexico: Editorial "Baja California," 1961), pp. 478-520; Pablo L. Martinez, ed., El^ 210 considerable publicity for the Liberals. On February 5, 1911, after the Liberal force captured Mexicali, a fund-raising meeting was held at the Los Angeles Labor Temple. The speak­ ers included Villarreal, Turner, and the lawyers, Harriman and Holston. All were protesting the actions of United States troops and officials against Mexican revolutionists and de­ manding belligerence status for the insurgents. Turner even read a letter Jack London had written for the meeting:

To the Dear, Brave Comrades of the Mexican Revolution:

We socialists, anarchists, hoboes, chicken-thieves, outlaws and undesirable citizens of the United States are with you heart and spul in your effort to overthrow slavery and autocracy in Mexico. You will notice that we are not respectable. Neither are you. No revolution­ ists can possibly be respectable in these days of the reign of property. All the names you are being called, we have been called. And when Graft and Corruption get up and begin to call names, honest men, brave men, patriotic men and martyrs can expect nothing else than to be called chicken-thieves and outlaws.

So be it. But I for one wish that there were more chicken-thieves and outlaws of the sort that formed the gallant band that took Mexicali, of the sort that r are heroically enduring in the prison holes of Diaz, of the sort that is fighting and dying and sacrificing in Mexico today.

I subscribe myself a chicken-thief and a revolution­ ist.37

At this same meeting, Villarreal gave a speech in

Spanish in which he concluded with the new Liberal slogan,

Magonismo en Baja California (Documentos)f Mexico: Editorial "Baja California," 1958); Agustxn Cue Cdnovas, Ricardo Flores Magon, La Baja California y los Estados Unidos (Mexico: Libro Mex, Editores, 1957) .

37Regeneraci6n, Feb. 11, 1911. 211

Tierra y Libertad, indicating that he accepted and approved

7 0 of the direction in which Flores Mag6n was guiding the Party.

That this was not the case was to be brought into the open in the next two weeks by events taking place in Mexico. Madero was back in the field and enjoying some success in Chihuahua.

Prisciliano Silva and Gutierrez de Lara were also still oper­ ating in Chihuahua. With the rebel forces coming into contact in mid-February, difficulties arose. Gutiefrrez de Lara led his troops over to Madero and recognized the primacy of

Madero. Silva, however, refused to recognize Madero's author­ ity. Acting on the excuse that the magonistas had stolen some items, Madero ordered the arrest of Silva, along with that of several of his men. Silva claimed this encounter took place after his troops had taken the town of Guadalupe, saving

7 Q Madero from serious defeat.

This action, which Flores Magon naturally attacked, brought the inevitable clash between Flores Mag6n and Madero into the open and brought the first defection from the Junta.

Villarreal most certainly realized that Flores Magon had no intention of cooperating with Madero. Villarreal had indi-

•zq Ibid., Feb. 25 and Mar. 4, 1911; Ross, Francisco I. Madero, pp. 144-145. 212 rectly supported this position himself by remaining with Ricardo since Regeneracidn had resumed in September, and he had also been calling for an economic revolution. Villarreal was a so­ cialist, but he must have known Flores Magon was an anarchist, and had probably known this fact since as early as 1908. Why he did not abandon the magonistas earlier is puzzling. It would seem that Villarreal was above all a practical man, never a man of ideas. By early 1911, he must have realized that Flores Magon was going to have little success in trying to direct a revolution. On the other hand, Madero's future

looked promising. The actual break with Flores Magon took

place in the Turners' home. Ethel Turner recalled that Flores

Mag6n and Villarreal began with a quiet discussion of their

differences and ended by angrily shouting at each other. The

discussion concluded with Villarreal storming out of.the house

to go join Madero. In the February 25 issue of Regeneracion,

Flores Magon announced that Villarreal was no longer a mem­

ber of the Junta. A month later, he said Villarreal had been

expelled from the Junta for favoring Madero and for other

reasons that might be explained later. He called Villarreal

an opponent of the working class.^

^Interview with Ethel D. Turner, June, 1965.

^ Regeneracion, Feb. 25 and Mar. 25, 1911. 213

After the arrest of Silva, the front page of Regenera- cion proclaimed that "Francisco I. Madero is a traitor to the cause of liberty." Flores MagSn called Madero "the cowardly politicaste, the vulgar ambitious who wishes to elevate him­ self on the shoulders of the poor people to collect for sup­ posed services. ..." He said Madero was trying to prevent the triumph of the Liberal Party because it was for the poor people, while Madero represented the rich. Flores Magon also claimed that, in Veracruz, Madero had issued a circular to the effect that the forces of Madero and Flores Magdn had joined hands, with the former being named provisional president and the latter provisional vice-president. Ricardo made it clear he wanted no part in any government. "I am firmly convinced that it is not possible for a good government to exist," Ri­ cardo wrote. "All are bad, whether they are called absolute monarchies or constitutional republics." ^ As far as Gutierrez de Lara was concerned, Flores Magon scoffed at his calling himself a socialist, because a real socialist could not unite 4 3 with Madero, who was fighting for the capitalist class.

Previously the Junta had instructed Liberals in Mexico

^ Ibid., Feb. 25, 1911. Apparently such a circular was issued in Veracruz, though it is doubtful Madero had any­ thing to do with it or was even aware of it. See Padua, Movi- miento revolucionario 1906. pp. 133-134.

43Regeneracibn, Mar. 4, 1911. 214 to work with the maderista troops..against the dictatorship and to try to convert-them to Liberalism. After the Silva in­ cident, new instructions were issued that Liberals, because of

Madero's treachery, should have nothing to do with the maderis- tas.^ The elimination of Silva probably removed the magon- istas1 last chance to develop a separate, effective force any­ where in Mexico other than Baja California. Still, individual

Liberals continued to be active in all parts of the Republic, and Regeneracion continued to give coverage to the growing movement against Diaz, but without signifying which were maderistas and which were magonistas. Flores Mag6n could never regain the position of primacy he once held in the

struggle against Diaz. In early March, an American consul, who was closely observing the Mexican situation, said Flores

Mag6n "has not been able to stir up enthusiasm among the

Mexicans on the American side or anywhere else." He said he

did not expect Flores Magdn.'s writings, or.declarations to

have any effect "on any of the Mexicans taking part in, or

sympathizing with the rebellion1.' in Coahuila, Chihuahua,

Sonora, and the other states.

^Original instructions dated Jan. 3, 1911, ibid. Jan. 7, 1911. The revised instructions, signed for the Junta by the Flores Magdns and Rivera, and dated Feb. 24, 1911, ibid., Feb. 25, 1911. In both these instructions, the old Liberal Party slogan, "Reforma, Libertad y Justicia," was used.

45Ellsworth to Secretary of State, Mar. 7, 1911, Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-642. 215

With or without influence, Flores Mag6n kept writing.

One of his great concerns was that the United States would intervene and only Diaz would be the winner in Mexico. He called on the American people to prevent this course of action.

MAwake American people. Understand at last that your rulers are like the rulers of the world; the gendarmes of the capi­ talists." He told the workers of the United States that if they did not prevent armed intervention, "aside from being barbarous, your inaction will serve only to rivet your chains'.'^

On Mar. 11, 1911, Flores Mag6n also wrote Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, asking him to protest against the threatened intervention. Gompers an­ swered that before he would take any action he would like to see concretely stated, by an authorized spokesman of the revo­ lutionary movement, exactly what were the goals of the revolu­ tion. He wanted to know what the revolutionists expected to accomplish, once in power.^ Flores Mag6n answered that it was an economic war being fought for "Land and Liberty," the

Liberal slogan. "If our people can win for themselves in­ dustrial liberty they will work out their own salvation."

^ Regeneracion, Feb. 25, 1911.

^Exchange of letters from the files of the Pan American Federation of Labor cited in Frank Tannenbaum, The Mexican Agrarian Revolution (New York: Macmillan. 1929) , pp. 157-158. 216

However, Flores Mag6n warned the powerful labor leader, if

American labor stood idly by and let militarism crush the revolt at "the behest of the money power, they will drag with them, to the lowest depths, their immediate neighbors -- the 4 8 American working men.M

It was to be expected that the conservative Gompers would shy away from the Liberals, but they also began to lose the support of the American Socialists. Most of the anarchical statements by Flores Mag6n had been available only in the

Spanish of Regeneraci6n. The American Socialists, fast friends of the Liberals since 1907, had not been aware of the shift in views of the magonistas. With Villarreal, Gutierrez de Lara, and others gone there were no more restaints on Flores Magon, except those of his own tactics. He was becoming more out­ spoken, though he still refused to avow himself publicly as an anarchist. The Junta of the Party was now composed of Flores

Mag6n, Rivera, and two new members. Antonio de P. Araujo, re­ cently released from Leavenworth, was named secretary, and

Figueroa was named second vocal.^ All apparently agreed with Ricardo.

A manifesto, dated April 3, 1911 and addressed to "the workers of the world" illustrated the Junta's position, and

4 8 R. Flores Mag6n to Gompers, Mar. 29, 1911, in Regener- aci6n, Apr. 1, 1911.

49Ibid., Apr. 8, 1911. 217 also helped drive away the Socialists:

Comrades: For more than four months the Red Flag has flamed on the battle fields of Mexico, carried aloft by emancipated workers whose aspirations are epitomized in the sublime war cry: LAND AND LIBERTY!

The people of Mexico are right now in open rebellion against their oppressors, and, taking part in the gener­ al insurrection, are found the supporters of modern ideas, those convinced of the fallacy of political pana­ ceas in the redemption of the proletariat from economic slavery, those who do not believe in the goodness of paternal governments nor in the impartiality of laws fashioned by the bourgeoisie, those who know that the emancipation of the workers ought to be accomplished by the workers themselves, those convinced of DIRECT ACTION, those who deny the "sacred" right of property, those who do not take up arms for the purpose of raising any master to power, but to destroy the chains of wage slavery. Those revolutionists are represented by the Organizing Junta of the Mexican Liberal Party. . . .

The Mexican Liberal Party is not fighting to depose the dictator Porfirio Dfaz in order to put in his place a new tyrant. The Mexican Liberal Party is taking part in the current insurrection with the deliberate and firm purpose of expropriating the land and the means of pro­ duction and handing them over to the people, that is, to each and every one of the inhabitants of Mexico, without distinction of sex. This act we consider essential to open the gates for the effective emancipation of the Mexican people.SO The manifesto went on to explain that Madero was only interested in establishing a bourgeois republic such as that of the Unitd

States. The Liberal struggle was only the first phase in the class struggle which would ultimately spread over the entire planet. The goal was the establishment of "a system which r " guarantees to every human being Bread, Land, and Liberty.'"

Ibid.

Ibid. 218

Three days after the manifesto was published, Flores

Magon wrote the American Socialist leader, Eugene V. Debs, to ask his support, both to get financial and and for Debs to use his influence with the American labor movement. Flores Magdn continued to be evasive about his own views. He said the pre­ vailed in some quarters that socialists would naturally side with Madero and anarchists with the Liberals. He said he had recently been called on by a Socialist committee and asked to state whether he was personally a socialist or an anarchist,

"the intimation being that if I was the latter support would be withdrawn." Ricardo asked Debs, "Could anything be more absurd or deplorable? We are not concerned with 'isms.' We are practical people, engaged in a most sternly practical task

-- the recovery of their natural inheritance by the disinheri- 5 2 ted." By his own admission, Flores Magon was never a prac­ tical man, and he was no longer fooling many people.

Debs answered the Liberals two months later in the

International Socialist Review. He said Mexicans were not class conscious and could not understand the goals of the Liberals.

The masses of Mexican workers were "ignorant, superstitious, unorganized and all but helpless," and in this state, "economic emancipation is simply out of the question. . . ." He noted

52Ibid., Apr. 15, 1911. 219 the Liberal manifesto tabooed all political action. " 1 Direct

Action,' so-called, is relied upon for results. Reading be­ tween the lines I can see nothing but anarchism in this pro­ gram. . . ."If this was true, Debs believed the leaders should frankly so state this fact so there would be no mis­ understanding. He warned that American capitalism would never

allow the Liberals to take the land as they proposed. "There

is no short cut to economic freedom," Debs said, and he ad­ vised the Mexicans to work for the economic and political or­

ganization of the dispossessed as the only direct way to e-

C *7 mancipation.

The addition of a new editor for the English page of

Regeneracidn heightened the conflict between the magonistas

and the 'Socialists. Ethel Turner left the paper and was re­

placed by William C. Owens, an English anarchist, in mid-

April, 1911.^ Owens also continued to deny the Liberals

were anarchists. The turn of events, however, was obvious.

Emma Goldman, the best-known anarchist in the United States,

became one of the staunchest supporters of the Liberals. At

53 Eugene V . Debs, "The Crisis in Mexico." International Socialist Review, July, 1911, printed in Writings and Speeches of Eugene V. Debs (New York: Hermitage Press, Inc., 1948), pp. 337-340. 54 Mrs. Turner said she left the paper because her hus­ band wanted to move to Carmel, California, to write. John Ken­ neth Turner, like most American Socialists, was also becoming leary of the anarchism of Flores Magon. Interview, June, 1965. 220 her meetings she called for support of Regeneracidn, saying

"No question of 'isms' is involved. This is a plain call to universal duty." In May, she made a speaking tour of Cali­ fornia, raising money for the newspaper, and Flores Mag6n 55 praised her for her activities in the pages of the paper.

Owens also constantly attacked the Socialists for their failure to support the magonistas. He said their argument that Mexico was not advanced enough for a socialist revolt was a bogus one. The gradualism advocated by Debs, Owens r £ wrote, would only keep the Mexican pe6n in economic slavery. 0

Flores Mag6n had not been doing any better in Mexico than he had in the United States. Madero had marched on to victory. On May 21, 1911, the Treaty of Ciudad Ju&rez had been signed, under which Diaz and the Vice-President Ramdn

Corral agreed to resign by the end of the month. Francisco

de la Barra would be interim president until elections could be held. Madero was in command and everyone knew he would

win the election overwhelmingly. The old dictator had finally

stepped aside. The old revolutionist would not. Right after

the pact was signed, Flores Magon wrote that the treaty meant

only that the day of peace was farther in the future:

^ Regeneracidn, Apr. 22, Apr. 29, May 13, and May 27, 1911.

^ Ibid., July 1 and July 8, 1911.

^Ross, Francisco I. Madero, p. 170. 221

The people want something that is exceedingly definite -- the abolition of hunger; and inasmuch as the elector­ al ballot is not made of flour but of paper it seeks something more substantial! Bread.

Those who hoped that this revolution would be an opera bouffe revolt, ending in the enthronement of a new tyrant, are panic-stricken. "Anarchy reigns in Mexico," say these poor-spirited ones, who do not know that anarchy is order based on mutual aid.5°

In a manifesto to the soldiers of Madero and Mexicans in general, dated May 24, 1911, the peace treaty was denounced by the Junta, who said, "Turn your rifles, maderista soldiers, against your chiefs the same as against the federals.

Flores Magon attacked Madero with as much or more vehemence than he ever exhibited against Diaz. "War on Madero, com­ panions. War on the slaver, and although Diaz escaped, Ma­ dero will not escape. Hang him from the main balcony of the

National Palace of Mexico.

Despite these vitriolic attacks, Madero attempted to make peace with Flores Magon. He obtained the release of Juan

Sarabia from San Juan de Ultia and sent the former vice-presi­ dent of the Liberal Junta and Jesds Flores Mag6n to Los

Angeles in early June to try to get Ricardo to give up the struggle. They were turned down. Madero then moved against the Liberals in Baja California, their last position of

5 8 Regeneracidn. June 3, 1911.

59Ibid., May 27, 1911.

^9Ibid., June 10, 1911. 222 strength, with all the force he could muster.The arrest of the Junta on June 14 followed the visit of the eldest Flores

Mag6n brother and Sarabia, as the United States authorities charged the Liberals with violating the neutrality laws in the

Baja California episode. Flores Mag6n blamed Madero for his arrest. He said,

. . . my own brother, who is a prominent attorney at Mexico City and does not pretend to be a revolutionist, visited me in Los Angeles, having been sent by Madero to induce me to give up the fight. I refused and the arrest . . . followed.o2

The most vicious response was for Sarabia. In an article entitled "The Judas Juan Sarabia,” Flores Magdn said the night before he was arrested Sarabia told him if he did not quit his activities, he, Sarabia, would do him all the harm possible. What probably hurt Flores Magdn worse was the fact that Sarabia had gone over to Madero completely:

Juan Sarabia says he owes his liberty to Francisco I. Madero. Shut your filthy mouth, liar! You owe.your liberty to the Liberals who initiated the movement which caused Porfirio Diaz to fall. The fall of Diaz was written from Acayucan and JimSnez, from Las Vacas, Pa- lomas, Viesca, and Valladolid. Madero has been a miser­ able who could r&ise himself on the long agitation and sacrifices of the Liberals.63

TomSs Sarabia, a cotisin of Juan, began to write for Regeneracidn

in July, 1911. About his cousin, he said, "Admiration and love

^ R o s s , Francisco I_. Madero, p. 184.

^ Regeneracidn, June 24, 1911.

63Ibid., July 8, 1911. 223 for Juan Sarabia, martyr, great hero, who died in San Juan de

Ulfia. Curses and anathema for Juan Sarabia the traitor, the malicious and miserable who returned to life among the bour­ geoisie!"^

Flores Magon, after his latest arrest, was able to get out on bond, but his cause was hopelessly lost. He was now spending his time attacking former friends and supporters.

He sadly admitted it-would take a forest to hang so many

Judases.Flores Mag6n strongly urged his readers to ig­ nore periodicals published in Mexico City by the ex-Liberal leaders. The worst blow came when his former associates began to publish a paper in Mexico City in August, 1911, called Regeneracion. Sarabia, Villarreal, Jesds Flores Magon,

Camilo Arriaga, and Antonio Diaz Soto y Gama were all on the editorial staff. Ricardo said it was a publication of the bourgeoisie and he called it "Bourgeois Regeneracidn." The paper claimed to be ap independent periodical, and Ricardo

asked how this could be when his brother, Jesus Flores Magon, was a director of the paper and also a member of the Madero

government. Arriaga he dismissed as a "capitalist, a true

slaver." His most bitter attacks were directed against Villa- i rreal, who was, he said, fit only to be the editor of a paper

64Ibid., July 22, 1911.

65Ibid., Aug. 12, 1911. 224 for eunuchs, Ricardo suggested the paper itself should be called Degeneracion. ^ The paper did not last long, but did indicate that the Liberals still had a.considerable following in Mexico that Madero wished to woo over to his side.

Ricardo Flores Magon would soon be on his way back to prison. The revolution would go on and he would continue fighting for his beliefs, but his best opportunity had passed him by. As the man who had probably done the most to pave the way for the overthrow of Porfirio Diaz, he had exercised relatively little influence when the act was accomplished.

How had this come about? Three significant reasons seem to stand

out. One of these was his refusal to go into Mexico to attempt personally to lead the Liberals. He tried to run a revolution

from a desk. Secondly, he was out of touch, in a United States

prison, when the years of discontent finally built up to the point

of explosion. Also, and perhaps the most important, by the time

of the revolution, Flores Magon's ideas were such that he could

not possibly have succeeded. He would have been crushed by either

the United States or Mexico -- probably, by both nations.

^ Ibid., and Aug. 19, 1911. Flores Magbn's attacks on Villarreal became extremely personal, especially after Villa­ rreal made the ridiculous charge that Flores Magdn's activities were being financed by the cientifico group that had fallen with Diaz. Ricardo accused Villarreal of being, among other things, an assassin and a homosexual. Ibid., Sept. 2, 1911. 225

Why he never made an attempt to go into Mexico is a question he never answered. He was not in robust health and was never a physically active man, but this is hardly a reason­ able excuse.The diminutive Madero was an unlikely man on horseback. Flores Magdn's treatment by authorities in both

Mexico and the United States made him wary of his personal safety and he believed assassins were after him. His contin­ ued activities against all authorities indicated, however, that he had ample personal courage. Perhaps he had come to the be­

lief that he was of more value where he could pour out a con­ tinual stream of written instructions and encouragements. He was truly a prolific writer and writing occupied almost all his time; He was not a political leader; yet the fact that he did not go into Mexico was probably a great mistake for the suc­

cess of his cause.

The years from 1907 to 1910, when Flores Magon was im­ prisoned in either Los Angeles or Arizona, were very important

years. These were the years when persons of substance in

Mexico came to the realization that perhaps they could not wait

'His old friends and supporters contend that Flores Magon did not go into Mexico because his eyesight was so ter­ ribly poor. He was extremely nearsighted. Interviews with N.T. Bernal and E.D. Turner, June, 1965. 226 for Diaz to die to institute political reforms. These were the years when many people in the United States first came to know the worst aspects of the rule of Porfirio Diaz. It be­ gan to be known that the opponents of the Mexican government were not just radicals or bandits. These were the years when

Flores Magon could probably have reaped a great following, and might have put himself in a position to attempt to realize his dreams. But he was not there during those years and he could not recapture this lost time.

Even had Flores Magon been able to take hold of a strong revolutionary movement, how long could he have main­ tained his position? The program he espoused in 1910 and 1911 was the immediate acquisition of economic liberty for everyone in Mexico. Had he moved into Mexico leading a revolutionary force and demanding an economic revolution, Madero and the men who made the Madero revolution a success may well have rallied to the support of the dictatorship. Men like Madero earnestly wanted political liberties, but they would probably have put off this demand had it been necessary to do so to prevent a social and economic revolution. Had they failed to stop such a revolt in 1910, the United States, many of whose citizens had extensive interests in Mexico, most certainly would have intervened. The United States considered interven­ tion in the Madero revolt, and Madero only wanted to establish

a government such as the United States had. 227

Flores Mag6n was doomed to failure in 1910. Possibly his goals will always be doomed to failure. But Flores Mag6n did a great deal to make the Mexican Revolution a fact. His ideas also contributed to the later course of the Revolution.

Without the work of Ricardo Flores Mag6n, there may still have been a Francisco I. Madero. Perhaps it would not have been in 1910 and perhaps Madero would have met failure a few times, just as Flores Magdn met failure a few times. The question is not whether Flores Magon helped bring on the Revo­ lution. It is a quantitative question: Among the many op­ posing the dictatorship, Flores Magdn may be called the premier precursor.

Years later, when some of the bitterness was gone,

Flores Magon, imprisoned in Leavenworth, reflected on the course of the Mexican Revolution:

My comrades of that epoch are now generals, governors, secretaries of State, and some have even been presidents of Mexico. They are rich, famous and powerful, while I am poor, unknown, sick, almost blind, with a number for a name, marked as a felon, rotting in this human herd, whose crime has been to be so ignorant and so stupid as to have stolen a piece of bread, when it is a virtue to steal millions. But my old comrades are practical men, while I am only a dreamer, and that is my own fault.

They have been the ant and I the fly; while they have counted dollars, I have wasted time counting the stars. I wanted to make a man of each human animal; they, more practical, have made an animal of each man, and they have 228

made themselves the shepherds of the flock. Nevertheless, I prefer to be a dreamer than a.practical man.68

Today, Ricardo Flores Mag6n is honored in Mexico. His body lies in the Rotunda of Illustrious Men. Streets and towns bear his. name. Mexicans pay continual homage to their great Revolution and Ricardo Flores Mag6n was the great pre­ cursor of that Revolution. This is why most Mexicans re­ member and honor Flores Mag6n. Others remember him for another reason— Some Mexicans still dream.

68 R. Flores Mag6n to Bernal, Oct. 30, 1920, in Flores Magon, Epistolario revolucionario, I, pp. 16-17. EPILOGUE

"ALWAYS A REBEL, ALWAYS UNBENDING"

The dreamer is the designer of tomorrow. The practical man, the sensible, cold head, can laugh at the dreamer; they do not know that he,.the dreamer, is the true dy­ namic force that pushes the world forward. Suppress the dreamer, and the world will deteriorate toward bar­ barism. Despised, impoverished, the dreamer opens the way for his race, sowing, sowing, sowing the seeds which will be harvested, not by him, but by the practical men, the sensible, cold heads of tomorrow, who will laugh at the sight of another indefatigable dreamer seeding, seeding, seeding. 1 — Ricardo Flores Magon

The years after 1911 were not good years for Ricardo

Flores Magdn. For ten years, Mexico was in a turmoil, but

Flores Magon exercised no direct influence in his native land.

He had no real party any more, he could only oppose each suc­ cessive government as it came to power. Too, Flores Magon con­ tinued to run into difficulties with authorities in the United

States. Finally, he was caught up in the anti-radical hysteria that gripped the United States in World War I and was ulti­ mately sentenced to a twenty-one year term in prison. Ricardo1

1 R. Flores Magon to Elena White, June 28, 1921, in Flores Magon, Epistolario revolucionario, II, pp. 15-18.

229 230 recognized this was the end of his life as a violent anarchist, saying, "a sentence of 21 years is a life sentence for a man, old and consumed as I am." As it was, in his last years in the Federal Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, Flores Magon became a peaceful, philosophical anarchist. And the old rebel came to be recognized in Mexico, which was settling down in the early 1920's, for his great contributions to the Revolution.

In the last months of 1911 Flores Magon finally shed his porous mask of deception and announced himself an anar­ chist . The Liberal Party Program of 1906 was at last replaced with a lengthy manifesto published in Regeneracion on Septem- ber 23, 1911. Signing the new program with Ricardo were An­ tonio de P. Araujo, Librado Rivera, Enrique Flores Magon, and

Anselmo L . Figueroa. The manifesto announced:

The Mexican Liberal Party recognizes that the $o-called right of property is an iniquitous right, because it com­ pels a majority of human beings to work and suffer for the satisfaction and ease of a small number of capitalists.

The Mexican Liberal Party recognizes that Authority and the Clergy are the support of the iniquity of Capital, and, therefore, the Organizing Junta of the Mexican Liberal Party has solemnly declared war against Authority, war against Capital, war against the Clergy.

Against Capital, Authority, and the Clergy the Mexican Liberal Party has hoisted the red banner on the fields •of action ’ in Mexico. . . .3

^R. Flores Mag6n to Gus Teltsch, Dec. 15, 1920, ibid., pp. 28-30.

^Regeneracidn, Sept. 23, 1911. 231

The red banner was unfurled in only a very few places.

The Junta itself was already under indictment for violation of the United States neutrality law in connection with the revolt in Baja California. The Flores Magons, Rivera, and

Figueroa came to trial in Los Angeles in June, 1912. After a noisy and exciting trial, they were found guilty on June 22.

Three days later they were sentenced to twenty-three months in the Federal Penitentiary at McNeil Island, Washington.

A riot outside the Federal building followed the sentencing, touched off by Ricardo's stepdaughter, Lucia Norman, and featuring attacks on the police by Los Angeles Mexicans and members of the Industrial Workers of the World.^

Completing this sentence in January, 1914, the Junta

leaders went right back to publishing Regeneration. Again, the greeting was "Here we are again.It was no longer

Madero whom Flores Magon was opposing; now it Venustiano

Carranza, heir apparent and First Chief of the Madero forces.

Turn your rifles on your chiefs and officials, carrancista proletarians, and cry with all the strength of your lungs: Death to the Constitution! Long live Land and Liberty!6

^Blaisdell, The Desert Revolution, pp. 188-191. See materials in Dept, of Justice, Rec. Grp. 74, NA, File 90755-1606.

^Regeneration, Jan. 31, 1914.

6Ibid., Feb. 28, 1914. 232

In just over two years, Flores Mag6n was again in trouble with the authorities. Figueroa had died -- his death caused by his imprisonment, said Flores Mag6n -- and the Junta continued to dwindle in number.^

Ricardo’s next arrest, in February, 1916, was for vi­ cious attacks on Venustiano Carranza and upon Texas Rangers for the alleged murders of Mexicans in Texas in these articles pub- lished in the last months of 1915. Enrique Flores Mag6n was also arrested for an article, "The Yankee Robbery in Mexico," denouncing Wall Street exploitation of Mexico.^ On June 22,

1916, Ricardo was sentenced to a year and a day at McNeil Is­ land. Enrique was sentenced to three years there. Ricardo’s appeals enabled him to obtain temporary freedom again, although he ultimately served this term at the beginning of his final sentence.*V

This was not long in coming. On March 21, 1918, Ri­ cardo and Librado Rivera were arrested for violation of the Es­ pionage Act of June 15, 1917, and the Postal Laws and

Regulations of 1913, for writing, and attempting to

^See Flores Mag6n’s article on Figueroa in Regeneraci6n, Sept. 25, 1915. . o Ibid., Oct. 2, Nov. 6, and Nov. 25, 1915.

^E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores Mag6n, p . 303.

*°W.M. Cookson, Post Office Inspector to Inspector in Charge, San Francisco, Calif., July 19, 1918, Parole Rec. File 14596 Leavenworth, Bureau of Prisons, Washington, D.C. 233 mail in Regeneracion a manifesto, addressed to "Members of the

Party, the Anarchists of the World, and the Workingmen in Gen­ eral." The manifesto made no call to violence and did not men­ tion the United States. It predicted that the "death of the old society is close at hand." Flores Mag6n claimed it was the lot of the intellectual to prepare the people to meet this tremendous upheaval, "while not preparing the insurrec­ tion, since insurrection is born of tyranny." Little mention was made of the war in Europe itself, except in terms like

"the boy . . . will be but by force torn from his family to facei gun in.hand, another youngster who like himself was the enchantment of his home, and whom he does not hate, and cannot hate, for he does not even know him." The manifesto was clear­ ly anarchistic. "Let every man and every woman who love the anarchist ideal propagate it with tenacity, with inflexibility, without heeding sneers or measuring dangers, and without taking into account the consequences." All this was in preparation for the coming turmoil. "Companions, the moment is solemn. It is the moment preceding the greatest political and social ca­ tastrophe History registers: the insurrection of all people against existing conditions."^

Flores Mag6n and Rivera were brought to trial on July

15, 1918, before .Judge Benjamin F * Bledsoe. Assistant United . : ' ■ - 11 Regeneracidn, Mar. 16, 1918. 234

States Attorney W.F. Palmer served as prosecutor for the government. To convict Flores Mag6n and Rivera for violating the Espionage Act, the government had to show the manifesto was intended to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, and refusal of duty in the military and naval forces of the United

States. As the manifesto certainly did not overtly do any of these things, the government introduced materials illustrating the violent anarchism Flores Magon had practiced for the last eight years. To show what the government considered to be the real meaning of the ambiguous manifesto, the prosecution intro duced a translation of a speech made by Flores Magdn on May

17, 1917, even though this was a full month before the Espion­ age Act was passed. On that occasion, Ricardo said:

That the country is at war and that is why we cannot talk. Bully reason for this! It is precisely because the country is engaged in a war for the declaration of which the opinion of each and all its inhabitants was not taken into account that we must talk, and we must talk high and loud, hurt whom it may and no matter what the consequences of our words may be. What interest have we, the disinherited, in this war? . . .

. . . Go on, you haughty overlords, swallow your order, for we anarchists are not disposed to obey it; we can­ not shut up, we will not shut up, and we shall speak, cost what it may.

. . . Above caprice is our right, right which we do not owe to you but to nature which has endowed us with a mind to think; and in the defense of a right -- understand it well -- we are ready for anything and to face it all, be it the dungeon or the gallows. Do not forget that right, no matter how much you may mutilate it, no matter how much you may crush it, no matter how much you may try to annihilate it; when it is persecuted 235

the most, and when you are proudest of your triumph, it roars its vengeance in dynamite and belches lead from the barricade.12

Notwithstanding the ex post facto evidence, on July

17, 1918, a jury found Flores Mag6n and Rivera guilty on all the counts charged against them. Two days later they were sentenced to McNail Island -- Ricardo for twenty years and

Rivera for fifteen. With the one term still not served, it - 13 meant a total of twenty-one years to be served by Flores Magon.

Two months later, Attorney Palmer wrote the president of the

Board of Parole in Washington, D.C., that Flores Magdn "ought not be paroled at any time until he has first learned that in our country any change whatever can be made by the people if the majority of the people desire by the ballot, and not by the bullet." He said Flores Magdn was a "dangerous man because he plays upon the ignorance and stupidity of the Mexican popula­ tion."^ The government apparently hoped it finally had him permanently behind bars.

Facing what he considered to be a life term, Flores

Magdn soon ceased being the violent anarchist. Too, his health ______■ - i ? Congressional Record, 67th Cong., 4th Sess., LXIV (Dec. 19, 1922), pp. 682-687. 13 Cookson to Inspector in Charge, July 19, 1918. 14 Palmer to F.H. Duehay, Sept. 6, 1918, Parole Rec. File No. 14596 Leavenworth, Bureau of Prisons, Washington, D.C. 236 continued to worsen. At McNeil Island, another political prisoner met Ricardo and carried away an impression of the sadness of the man. He also commented that "the land never knew him and he had not smelled the smell of hard labor.

But there was not a Mexican worker in that prison -- and there were many -- who would not have laid down his life to give

Mag6n a free and easy hour." On November 3, 1919, because of his poor health, Flores Magon was transferred to the larger 16 prison in the dryer climate of Leavenworth, Kansas. Because of this, "little Rivera, the happy one, was a broken man."

Within a few months, however, Rivera was able to get trans- 17 ferred to Leavenworth also.

Early in 1920, when Mexico was beginning.to settle down under the presidency of Alvaro Obregon, the Mexican Chamber of

Deputies, largely through the work of Antonio Dia% Soto y Gama, tried to award a pension to Flores Magon and Rivera. In a letter to NicolKs T. Bernal, an old friend, Ricardp said he appreciated the "generous sentiments," but then told why he

"^Gilbert O'Day, "Ricardo Flores Mag6n," The Nation, Dec. 20, 1922, pp. 689-690.

^Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Criminal Identification, Leavenworth, Kansas, to the Board of Parole, May 1920 (Parole Record File No. 14596 Leavenworth, Bureau of Prisops, Washington, D . C.) . 17 O'Day, "Ricardo Flores Mag6n," p. 690. 237 could not accept the pension:

They are right because they believe in the State, and consider it honest to impose taxes on the people in order to sustain the State; but my point of view is different. I do not believe in the State; I sup­ port the abolition of international boundaries; I fight for the universal brotherhood of man; I consider the State as an institution created by capitalism to guarantee the exploitation and subjugation of the masses. Consequently, all money obtained by the State represents the sweat, anguish, and sacrifice of the workers. If the money would come directy from the workers, I would accept it with pleasure, even pride, because they are my brothers. But coming through in­ tervention of the State, after having been demanded — according to my conviction — from the people, it is money that would burn my hands and fill my heart with remorse. My appreciations to Antonio Diaz Soto y Gama in particular, and to the generous deputies in general. They can be sure that with all my heart I appreciate their good wishes; but I cannot accept the money.18

After the war ended, considerable agitation developed over the so-called political prisoners still in United States prisons. Flores Mag6n benefited from the publicity and with the help of Liberal groups in the United States he might have got out of Leavenworth, had he asked for a pardon. His at­ torney, Harry Weinberger of New York, went to Washington, D.C., to see if he could gain a parole or a pardon for his client.

He was told Flores Magon had not requested a pardon, a neces­ sary procedure. Flores Mag6n would not make the request.

This seals my fate; I shall go blind, putrify, and die within these horrendous walls that separate me from the

10 R. Flores Mag6n to Bernal, Dec. 20, 1920, in Flores Magon, Epistolario revolucionario. I, pp. 31-33. 238

rest of the world, because I am not going to request par­ don. I shall not do itl In my twenty-nine years of fighting for liberty I have lost everything, and every opportunity to make myself rich and famous; I have con­ sumed many years of my life in prison; I have experienced the feeling of the vagabond and the pariah; I have seen myself weak from hunger; my life has been in danger many times; I have lost my health; finally, I have lost all, except one thing, one simple thing that I protect, fight for, and preserve almost with fanatic zeal, and this thing is my honor as a fighter. To request pardon would signify that I am repenting of wanting to destroy Capi­ talism in order to put in its place a system based on the free association of workers to produce and consume, •and I.am not repenting that; rather I am proud of it. To request pardon would signify that I abdicated my anar­ chist ideals, and I do not retract them, I affirm them, I affirm that if the human species is some time able to taste true brotherhood, liberty, and social justice, it must be through the medium of anarchism. So then, my dear Nicolds, I am condemned to go blind and to die in prison. I' prefer this to turning my back on the workers, and having the doors of the prison opened at the price of my honor. I will not outlive my captivity, for I am already old; but when I die, my friends will perhaps inscribe on my tomb: "Here lies a dreamer," and my enemies: "Here lies a madman." But no one will be able to stamp the inscription: "Here lies a coward and a traitor to his ideas. Going blind, and in failing health, Flores Magon still

wanted to be free, and Weinberger continued to try to obtain

his release. In 1921, he approached Attorney General Harry

M. Daugherty, who refused to take action. Ignoring his years

of advocacy of extreme violence, Ricardo wrote:

Mr. Daugherty says that I am a dangerous man because of the doctrines I support and practice. Well, the doctrines I support and practice are anarchistic doctrines, and I

R. Flores Mag6n to Bernal, Dec. 6, 1920, ibid., I, pp. 23-24. 239

challenge all honorable men and women in the world to prove to me that anarchistic doctrines are prejudicial to the human race.

Anarchism spreads the establishment of a social order based on brotherhood and love, in contrast to the present form of society founded on violence, hate, and rivalry of one class against another and among the members of the same class. Anarchism aspires to establish peace for­ ever among all the races pf the earth by suppressing the source of all evil: the right of private property. If this is not a beautiful ideal, what is?20

Flores Magdn neighbor in the adjoining cell at Leaven­ worth was Ralph Chaplin, a poet, artist, and author of probab­ ly the most famous union song of all time, "Solidarity For­ ever." He was also an organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World; his activities on behalf of the I.W.W. got him into Leavenworth. He had a great admiration for Ricardo, who was, he said, "gentler, and fiercer, by nature than any man

I ever met." The Mexican anarchist, "soft-spoken and cul­ tured, impressed all of us as the highest type of revolution- ary idealist." Chaplin was awakened by the prison guards on the night of November 21, 1922, and was told of the death of Flores Magon. The guards informed Chaplin that Ricardo had died suddenly of a heart attack. Rivera was convinced III,*

^R. Flores Magon to Weinberger, May 9, 1921, ibid., III, pp. 68-79. ---- 21 Ralph Chaplin, Wobbly, the Rough-and-Tumble Story of an American Radical (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948), pp. 278, 255. 22 Ibid., p . 310. 240 2 3 his leader had been murdered. No evidence supports this charge, but, in any event, Ricardo Flores Mag6n was dead at the age of forty-nine.

Antonio Diaz Soto y Gama once again rose in the

Mexican Chamber of Deputies to praise the man who disavowed all governments. "Ricardo Flores Mag6n . . .is the pre­ cursor of the revolution, the true author of it, the intel­ lectual author of the Mexican revolution." Diaz Soto y

Gama thought it best that the United States "did not con­ cede liberty to that great rebel; it is infinitely better that Ricardo Flores Magon closed his life as he opened it:

"always a rebel, always unbending." In asking a tribute for

Flores Mag6n, Diaz Soto y Gama said to the deputies, ". . .

I request a clamorous applause, that the Mexican revolu­ tionaries, the brothers of Flores Mag6n dedicate to the dead brother, the great rebel, the immense turbulent spirit, the enormous man of character, without a stain, without a vacillation, called Ricardo Flores Magon.The Mexican

Federation of Railroad Unions brought the body of Flores

Mag6n back to Mexico and he was given what amounted to a

state funeral in January, 1923. It was the first time he had been in Mexico in nineteen years. '•

23 E.D. Turner, Ricardo Flores Magon, p. 338. 24 Complete text of Diaz Soto y Gama's speech in the introduction to Ricardo Flores Mag6n, Tribuna roja (Mexico: Grupo Cultural "Ricardo Flores Magon," 1925), pp. 5-11. 241

His fame as a precursor of the Mexican Revolution is unquestioned, but this would not satisfy Ricardo Flores Magon.

By the time of his death, he considered the revolution to have failed completely. In his last years, his hopes were in his dreams, and only there could he find something to give hope.

He wrote: "my dream of beauty and my beloved visions of a humanity living in peace, love and liberty . . . will not die with me. While there is on our Earth a painful heart or an 2 S eye full of tears, my dreams and my visions will live."

Ricardo Flores Magon would have approved of a verse from one of Chaplin's poems:

When our cause is all triumphant and we claim our mother earth, And the nightmare of the present fades away, We shall live with love and laughter, we who now are little worth, And we'll not regret the price we have to pay.26

25R. Flores Magon to Erma Barsky, Mar. 16, 1922, in Flores Mag6rv, Epistolario revolucionario, III, pp. 8-11. 2 °Ralph Chaplin, "Commonwealth of Toil," a popular I.W.W. song. A NOTE ON SOURCES

No attempt is made here to discuss all the sources in the following compilation of "References." Instead, an attempt will be made to discuss and evaluate the more sig­ nificant sources used in the preparation of this study. Full citations of these items may be found in the "References."

Published and Unpublished Documents

With Ricardo Flores Mag6n spending his most active years in the United States, and with the government of that nation being so interested in his activities, United States agencies collected a voluminous amount of material on the Li­ beral Party. Most of this is now housed in the National Ar­ chives in Washington, D.C. The files of the Department of

Justice are of special interest, particularly File 90755, which covers the years prior to the outbreak of the Revolu­ tion. From 1904 onward, agents of the Department of Justice were busy observing the activities of Mexicans in the United

States to apprehend violators of neutrality laws or to prevent

"such violations. Records of both the Departments of Justice and State clearly indicate the awesome obstacles to attempting to launch a revolutionary movement from the United States without

242 243 at least tacit support from authorities in that nation.

The writings of Flores Mag6n himself are, of course, invaluable to a study of the Liberal movement. Fortunately, a great amount of his work was preserved in the publications in the early 1920's of the Grupo Cultural "Ricardo Flores

Magdn" in Mexico, D.F. NicolKs T. Bernal, a young Mexican student who became acquainted with Flores Magdn in Los

Angeles in 1911, was the main leader of this group. Bernal had become a loyal follower of Flores Magdn, giving up his studies and returning to Mexico to work for the release of

Flores Magdn. Most of the works of Flores Magdn were pub­

lished after his death, ostensibly by Bernal. In actual

fact, presses of the Mexican government printed the works at

the direction of Minister of Education Jose Vasconcelos, a

fact which was never publicized. The books of Flores Magdn

are> for the most part, made up of reprints of articles and

collections of personal correspondence from Leavenworth. The

eminent historian, Manuel GonzSlez Ramirez has also edited a

number of valuable documentary collections pertaining directly

to the Flores Magdn movement and the strike at Cananea. In

the Epistolario textos de Ricardo Flores Magdn, he attempts

to trace, through documents, the development of Flores Magdn

from a Ju&rez liberal to an anarchist. 244

Books

Among the books used in this study, a number were extraordinarily valuable. The prolific Argentine anarchist scholar, Diego Abad de SantillSn, wrote the first biography of

Ricardo Flores Mag6n for the Grupo Cultural. Abad de Santi- llcin never pretended this was a definitive study, although it has been heavily relied on by magonista scholars. In his work,

Abad de Santill&n reprinted a number of documents which are available nowhere else.

The best study on the precursory period is by the his­ torian and senator, Florencio Barrera Puentes, Historia de la revolucidn mexicana, la etapa precursora. which is also one best works in the ambitious, but rather uneven, series being published by the Institute Nacional de Estudios Historicos de la Revolution Mexicana. Barrera Puentes*s book suffers mainly from being written primarily from the Mexican point of view, while Flores Magdn was directing the activities from the United States; thus Barrera Puentes’s sources of information were somewhat limited.

Two other works in the same series were also used with profit in this study. Eugenio Martinez Nunez, La vida heroica de Pr&xedis G . Guerrero was written in the mid-1930's and re­ published by the Institute. Besides being the most significant study of the life of Guerrero, the work also contains valuable documents on the Liberal movement printed in full. Enrique 245

Flores MagSn's story, as told to Samuel Kaplan, Combatimos la tirania, greatly overstates the role of the subject, but does contain much invaluable information.

The most ambitious biographical study of Flores Mag6n is Ethel Duffy Turner's Ricardo Flores Magon % el_ Partido

Liberal, subsidized and published by the state of Michoac&n.

The translation and the printing are not of the best quality, but it is a lively account, though overly sympathetic. Mrs.

Turner's work is especially good on the period in Los Angeles, when she played a direct role in Liberal activities. Her husband at the time, John Kenneth Turner, gave an essentially

Liberal critique of the Diaz regime in his Barbarous Mexico, published in 1911.

Candido Donato Padua remains the source for Liberal

activity in Veracruz, with his Movimiento revolucionario 1906

en Veracruz, which, in the second edition used here, carries the story through the Madero revolt. Padua incorporates con­

siderable material of a documentary nature into his work.

Though not the primary concern of this study, the re­ volt in Baja California has long been a subject of interest

and controversy. For a thorough account of this revolt, as well as the controversy which surrounds it, see Lowell L.

Blaisdell, The Desert Revolution, Baja California, 1911. The works of Pablo L . Mattinez, who has made a life study of the peninsula and the revolt, might also be cited. In the dif­ 246 ferences of opinion between Blaisdell and Martinez, the weight of evidence appears to support the former.

Articles and Periodicals

The Hemeroteca Nacional in Mexico, D.F., holds complete files of RegeneraciSn published in Mexico in 1900-1901, and, thanks to the efforts of Nicol&s T. Bernal, also has virtually a complete file of the Los Angeles editions. The fortunes of

Flores Mag6n and the Liberals can be traced in the pages of

Regeneracion as nowhere else. For early stages of the develop­ ment of opposition, in Hijo del Ahuizote and E_1 Colmillo POb- lico, also in the Hemeroteca, are exceedingly valuable, al­ though the savagely critical cartoons must be seen to be ap­ preciated fully. In the fall of 1924, E[1 Demdcrata ran a series on the precursory period, featuring documents and inter­ views with many of the leading participants. Files of this paper may also be found in the Hemeroteca.

Interviews

NicoldsT. Bernal has in many ways devoted his life to the memory of Ricardo Flores Mag6n. Besides obtaining publications of Flores Magdn's writings in the 1920's, he also took Librado Rivera into his home after Rivera gained his freedom from Leavenworth. Bernal has continued to work to keep

Flores Magon's name in public view. There is little Bernal will not do to help a student investigating the life of Flores 247

Mag6n. Other than the introductions and helpful directions,

Bernal gave me, in conversations, information about Flores

Mag6n that is available nowhere else. Although he modestly denies any special knowledge, it will be a tremendous loss if no one gets Bernal's memories down on paper.

Among the people Bernal took me to see were JosS

Munoz Cota and Pablo L . Martinez. Munoz Cota, a younger man and, like Bernal, an anarchist, has done much to publicize

Flores Magon in recent books and poems. Munoz Cota is es­ sentially romantic in his approach, and a long, stimulating conversation with him caused me to reconsider seriously cer­ tain conclusions about Flores Magdn. Martinez, an elderly scholar from Baja California, has studied that area thorough­ ly and is a staunch defender of the activities of Flores

Mag6nvthere.

At her home in Cuernavaca, Ethel Duffy Turner vividly told me of her days as a worker in the cause of Flores Mag6n.

Never an anarchist herself, Mrs. Turner has only the warmest feelings for Ricardo and his Liberal supporters as she knew them in Los Angeles. REFERENCES

248 REFERENCES

Bibliographies

Barrett, Ellen C . Baja California, 1535-1956. A Bibliography of Historical, Geographical, and Scientific Literature Relating to the Peninsula of Baja California and To the Adjacent Islands in the Gulf of California and the Pa­ cific Ocean. Los Angeles: Bennett § Marshall, 1957.

Gonzalez, Luis, et_ al_. Puentes de la historia contemporanea de Mexico. Libros y folletos. 3 vols. Mexico: El Colegio de Mexico, 1961-1963.

Ramos, Roberto. Bibliografla de la Revolucidn Mexicana. 3 vols. Mexico: Biblioteca del Institute Nacional de Estudios Historicos de la Revoluci6n Mexicana, 1959-1960.

Unpublished Documents

General Records, United States Department of Justice, Record Group 74, Files 90755, 71-1-59, 180187, 9-19-290. Washington, D.C.: National Archives.

______, United States Department of State, Record Group 59, Decimal File 311.1221. Washington, D.C.: National Ar­ chives .

______, United States Department of State, Record Group 59, Despatches from United States Consuls in Nogales, 1889-1906, Vol.4, January 2, 1903-July 26, 1906. Washington, D.C.: National Archives.

______, United States Department of State, Record Group 59, Despatches from United States Ministers to Mexico, 1823-1906, Vol. 183, May 15-June 20, 1906. Washington, D.C.: National Archives.

Records of the United States Supreme Court. Appellate Case N o . 211-53. The Matter of the Application of R. Flores Magon et zvl. for a Writ oT Habeas Corpus. Washington, D.C.: National Archives.

249 250

United States Department of Justice. Parole Record File No. 14596 Leavenworth. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Prisons.

Published Documents

Alleged Persecution of Mexican Citizens by the Government of Mexico. 61st Congress, 2nd Session, Report of a Special Committee set up under H.J. Res. 201. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1910.

Archiva de Don Francisco I. Madero. No. 2. Epistolario C1900- 1909). Edicion establicida por Agustln Yinez y Ca- talina Sierra. Mexico: Ediciones de la Secretaria de Hacienda, 1963.

Congressional Record. Volume LXIV, 67th Congress, 4th Session, December 11, 14, and 19, 1922.

Flores Magon, Ricardo. Epistolario revolucionario £ intimo. 3 vols. Mexico: Grupo Cultural "Ricardo Flores Magon," 1925.

______. Sembrando ideas. Ibid., 1923.

______. Semilla libertaria. 2 vols. Ibid. , 1923.

______. Tribuna roja. Ibid., 1925.

/ Vida nueva. Mexico: Comite de agitacion por la libertad de Ricardo Flores Magon y companeros presos en Estados Unidos del Norte, n.d.

Flores Mag6n, Ricardo y Jesfis. Batalla a _la dictadura:textos politicos. Vol. Ill of Martin Luis Guzmdn, ed., El liberalismo mexicano en pensamiento y en accion. Mexico: Empresas Editoriales, 1948.

GonzSleztRamfrez, Manuel, ed. Epistolario textos de Ricardo Flores Magon. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1964.

______, ed. La huelga de Cananea. Vol. Ill of Puentes para la historia de la Revolucion Mexicana. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Econ3mica, 1956.

______, ed. Planes politicos y otros documentes♦ Vol. I, ibid., 1954. 251

Guerrero, Praxedis G . Articulos literarios y. comb ate; pensamientos; cronicas revolucionarios, etc. Mexico; Grupo Cultural "Ricardo Flores Magon," 1925.

Investigation of Mexican Affairs♦ Senate Executive Document No. 285, 66th Congress, 2nd Session (2 vols.). Washing­ ton, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1919-1920.

Por la libertad de Ricardo Flores Magon companeros presos en Estados Unidos del Norte. Mexico: ComitS de agitacidn por la libertad de Ricardo Flores Mag6n y companeros presos en Estados Unidos del Norte, 1922.

Books

Abad de Santillan, Diego. Ricardo Flores Magdn, el apostol de la revolucidn social mexicana. Mexico: Grupo Cul­ tural "Ricardo Flores Magon," 1925.

Agetro, Leafar, Las luchas proletarias en Veracruz, historia y autocritica. Jalapa, Veracruz: Editorial "Barri- cada," 1942.

Aguirre, Norberto. Ricardo Flores Magon, slntesis biografica. Mexico: Ediciones de la Sociedad Agrondmica Mexicana, 1964.

Aguirre Benavides, Adrian. Madero, El inmaculado: Historia de la recolucion de 1910. 2nd ed. Mexico: Editorial Diana, S.A., 1962.

Alba, Victor. Las ideas sociales contempor&neas en Mexico. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 1960.

Alperovich, M.S., and B.T. Rudenko. La revolucidn mexicana de 1910-1917' y. iiL PQlitica de los Estados Unidos. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Popular, 1960.

Amaya, Juan Gualberto. Madero y. los autenticos revolucionarios de 1910. Mexico: n.p., 1946.

Anaya Ibarra, Pedro Marla. Precursores de la revolucidn mex­ icana. Mexico: Secretarla de Education PGblica (Biblio- teca enciclopSdica popular, nueva epoca, 227), 1955.

Baerlein, Henry P.B. Mexico the Land of Unrest. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1913. 252

Barrera Puentes, Florencio. Historia de la revolution mexi- cana, la etapa precursora. Mexico: Biblioteca del In­ stitute Nacional de Estudios Historicos de la Revolucidn Mexicana, 1955.

Beals, Carleton. Porfirio Diaz, Dictator of Mexico. Phila­ delphia: J .B. Lippincott Company, 1932.

Beteta, Ramon.' Pensamiento y dinamica de la revolucidn mexi­ cana; antologia de~documentes politicosociales. 2nd ed. Mexico: Editorial Mexico Nuevo, 1951.

Blaisdell, Lowell L . The Desert Revolution. Baja California, 1911. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1962.

Blanquel, Eduardo. El pensamiento politico de Ricardo Flores Magdn, precursor de la revolucion mexicana. Mexico: Universidad Naci-dfial Aut6h6ma^de"FacQltad de'FiTosofia y Letras, 1963.

Braderman, Eugene Maur. "A Study of Political Parties and Politics in Mexico since 1890." Unpublished Doctoral dissertation. Urbana: University of Illinois, 1938.

Brandenburg, Frank. The Making of Modern Mexico. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1964.

Brissenden, Paul F. The I.W.W.; A Study of American Syndical­ ism. rev. ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1920 .

______. The Launching of the Industrial Workers of the World. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1913.

Brooks, John Graham. American Syndicalism; The IIW.W. New York: Macmillan, 1913.

Bulnes, Francisco. E_1 verdadero Diaz JjL revolucidn. Mexico: Editora Nacional Edinal, S. de R.L., 1960.

Calderon, Esteban B. Juicio sobre la guerra del Yaqui y genesis de la huelga de Cananea. Mexico: Ediciones del Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas, 1956.

Callahan, James Morton. American Foreign Policy in Mexican Relations. New York: Macmillan, 1932.

Callcott, Wilfred Hardy. Liberalism in Mexico, 1857-1928. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1931. 253

Carbo Danaculleta, Margarita. El magonismo en ^a revoluci6n mexicana. Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Facultad de Filosofla y Letras, 1964.

Carrillo, Rafael. Ricardo Flores Majgfm, esbozo biogrKfico. Mexico: n.p., 1945.

Carson, W.E. Mexico, the Wonderland of the South. New York: Macmillan, 1914.

Casasola, Gustavo. Historia grafica de la revoluci6n, 1900- 1960. Vol. I. Mexico: Editorial F. Trillas, 1962.

Chaplin, Ralph. Wobbly. the Rough-and-Tumble Story of an American Radical. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948.

Clark, Marjorie Ruth. Organized Labor in Mexico. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1934.

Cline, Howard F. The United States and Mexico. 2nd ed., rev. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961.

Cos10 Villegas, Daniel. Historia moderna de Mexico. Vol. 6. El porfiriato. La vida politica exterior. Second Part. Mexico: Editorial Hermes, 1963.

Cue Canovas, Agustln. Historia mexicana. Mexico: Editorial F. Trillas, S.A., 1959.

______. Historia politica de Mexico. 2nd ed. Mexico: Libro Mex Editores, 1961.

______. Ricardo Flores Mag6n, la Baja California y_ los Estados Unidos. Mexico: Libro Mex Editores, 1957.

Cumberland, Charles C. Mexican Revolution: Genesis under Madero. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1952.

Debs, Eugene V. Writings and Speeches of Eugene V. Debs. New York: Hermitage Press, Inc., 1948.

De la Huerta, Adolfo. Memorias de don Adolfo de la Huerta. segGn su propio dictado. Transcripcidn y comentarios del Roberto Guzman Esparza. Mexico: Ediciones "GuzmSn," 1957.

Diaz Cctrdenas, Le6n. Cananea. primer brote del sindicalismo en Mexico. Mexico: Departamento de Bibliotecas de la Secretaria de Educacion Pfiblica, 1936. 254

Flandrau, Charles Macomb. Viva Mexicol ed. and intro. by C. Harvey Gardiner. Urbana: University of Illinois Press'/ 1964.

Flores Magon, Ricardo. Tierra y Libertad. Mexico: Grupo Cultural "Ricardo Flores Magdn," 1924.

- Verdugos y victimas. Ibid., 1924.

Fornaro, Carlo de. Diaz, Czar of Mexico. Philadelphia: The International Publishing Co., 1909.

Garcia Naranjo, Nemesio. Porfirio Diaz. San Antonio, Texas: Casa Editorial Lozano, 1930.

Godoy, Jose F . Porfirio Diaz, President of Mexico; the Master Builder of a Great Commonwealth. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1910.

G6mez Gutiefrrez, Mariano (Bias Lara C .). La vida que yo vivi. Mexico: Editorial "Luz y Vida," 1954.

Gompers, Samuel. Seventy Years of Life and Labor, An Auto­ biography . 2 vols. New York: E.P. Dutton § Co., 1925.

Gonzalez Monroy, Jestis . Ricardo Flores Mag6n y su actitud en %a Baja California. Vol. I of Testimonies docu- mentales de Mexico. Mexico: Editorial Academia Literaria, 1962.

Gonzalez Ramirez, Manuel. La revolucidn social de Mexico. Vol. I. Las ideas -- la violencia. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Econdmica, 1960.

Graham, A.A. Mexico with Comparisons and Conclusions. Topeka, Kansas: Carane § Co., 1907.

Gutierrez de Lara, L ., and Edgcumb Pinchon. The Mexican People: Their Struggle for Freedom. Garden City: Doubleday, Page § Co., 1914.

Hannay, David. 1 Diaz.• In Basil Williams, ed...Makers of the Nineteenth Century. New York: Henry Holt § Co., 1917

Hernandez, Teodoro. La historia de la revolucidn debe hacerse. Mexico: n.p., 1950.

Horowitz, Irving L., ed. The Anarchists. New York: Dell Publishing Co., Inc., 1963. 255

James, Daniel. Mexico and the Americans. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., 1963.

Jenkins, Myra E. "Ricardo Flores Magdn and the Mexican Liberal Party, 1 9 0 0 - 1 9 2 2 Unpublished Doctoral dissertation. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1953.

Joll, James. The Anarchists. Boston: Little, Brown S Co., 1964.

Kaplan, Samuel. Combatimos la tirania; "Conversaciones con Enrique Flores Magon." Trans. by Jestis Amaya Topete. Mexico: Biblioteca del Institute Nacional de Estudios Historicos de la.Revolucidn Mexicana, 1958.

List Arzubide, German. El Mexico de 1910— El Maderismo. 2nd ed. Mexico: Ediciones Conferencia, 1963.

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Lopez-Portilla y Rojas, Jose. Elevaci6n y. caida de Porfirio Diaz. Mexico: Libraria Espanola, n.d.

Madero, Francisco I. La sucesion presidencial en 1910. Mexico: Ediciones "Los Insurgentes," 1960.

Magdalena, Mauricio. Ricardo Flores Magon, el gran calum- niado. Mexico: Ediciones d e .la Chinaca, 1964.

Martinez, Pablo L ., ed. El magonismo en Baja California. (Documentos). Mexico: Editorial "Baja California," 1958

Martinez, Pablo L. Historia de Baja California. 2nd ed. (Span.) Mexico: Editorial "Baja California," 1961.

______. Sobre el libro "Baja California heroica" (Contra la defense de una falseda hist6rica). Mexico: n.p., 1960.

Martinez Nunez, Eugenio. La vida heroica de PrKxedis G . Guerrero. Mexico: Biblioteca del Institute Nacional de Estudios HistSricos de la RevoluciSn Mexicana, 1960.

Mata, Luis I. Filomena Mata, su vida y sjj labor. Mexico: Secretaria de Educacion Ppblica, Biblioteca Enciclo- pedica Popular, No. 62, 1945.

Molina Enriquez, Andres. Los grandes problemas nacionales. Mexico: Imprenta de A. Carranza e hijos, 1909. 256

Moreno, Daniel. Los hombres de la revolucion; 40 estudios biogr^ficos. Mexico: Libro Mex Editories, 1960.

Munoz Cota, Jos#. Ricardo Flores Magon, corridos. Mexico: Biblioteca de Literatura Mexicana, Editorial Castalia, 1963.

’ ____ . Ricardo Flores Magon, un sol clavado en la sombra. Mexico: Editores Mexicanos Unidos, S.A., 1963.

Padua, Candido Donato. Movimiento revolucionario 1906 en Veracruz. 2nd ed. Tlalpan, D.F.: n.p., 1941.

Paz> Octavio. The Labyrinth of Solitude, Life and Thought in Mexico. Trans. by Lysander Kemp. New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1961.

Perez Salazar, Alicia. Discurso a Ricardo Flores Magon. ...Reprinted from Tribuna de Mexico, Nov. 22, 1963. Mexico: n.p., n.d.

______. Librado Rivera, un sonador en llamas. Mexico: Edicion de los Amigos, 1964.

______. Semblanza de Flores Magon. Mexico: Institute Nacional de la Juventud Mexicana, 1961.

Fletcher, David M. Rails, Mines, and Progress: Seven American Promoters in Mexico, 1867-1911. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1958.

Priestley, Herbert Ingram. The Mexican Nation, a History. New York: Macmillan, 1926.

Prida, Ram6n. iDe La dictadura a La anarquia! Mexico: Ediciones Botas, 1958.

Relyea, Pauline S. Diplomatic Relations between the United States and Mexico under~Porfirio Diaz, 1876-1910. Northhampton, Mass.: Smith College Studies in His­ tory, 1924.

Reyes, Bernardo. jEl General Porfirio Diaz. Mexico: Editora Nacional Edinal, S. de R.L., 1960.

Rivera, Diego, and Bertram Wolfe. Portrait of Mexico. New York: Covici Friede Publishers, 1937. 257

Rodarte, Fernando. 1_ de Enero de .1907: Puebla - Orizaba. Mexico: A. del Bosque, 1940.

Rojas, Luis Manuel. La culpa de Henry Lane Wilson el en gran desastre de Mexico. Vol. I. Mexico: Compania Editora "La Verdad," S.A., 1928.

Romero Flores, Jesfis . Del porfirismo a Iji revolucion consti- tucionalista. Vol. I. Anales histdricos de la revolucion mexicana. Mexico: Libro Mex Editores, 1959.

Ross, Stanley R. Francisco I_. Madero, Apostle of Mexican Democracy. New York: Columbia University Press, 1955.

Salazar, Rosendo. La Casa del Obrero Mundial. Mexico:Costa- Amic, Editor, 1962.

Sanchez Azcona, Juan. Apuntes para la historia de la revolu- ciGn mexicana. Mexico: Biblioteca del Institute National de Estudios Historicos de la Revolucidn Mexicana, 1961.

Silva, Jos6 D. Fuente de informacidn de la revolucidn mexi­ cana. Mexico: Casa Ramirez Editores, 1957.

Silva Herzog, JesGs. Breve historia de la revolucion mexi- • cana. Vol. I, Los antecedentes y la etapa maderista. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Econdmica, Coleccion Popular, 1960.

-____ . E_1 agrarismo mexicano x. liL reforma agraria; expo­ sition y critica. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura .Econbmica, 1940 .

______. Trayectoria ideologica de la revolucidn mexicana, 1910-1917; Del manifesto del Partido Liberal de 1906 a l_a Constitution de 1917. Mexico: Cuadernos Ameri­ canos, 1963.

Simpson, Lesley Byrd. Many Mexicos. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962.

St inis on, Grace H. Rise of the Labor Movement in Los Angeles. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1955.

Tannenbaum, Frank. The Mexican Agrarian Revolution. New York: Macmillan, 1929.

Taracena, Alfonso. Madero:Vida del hombre % del politico. Mexico: Ediciones Botas, 1937. 258

______. Mi vida en e_l vertigo de la revolucidn mexicana. Mexico: n.p., 1936.

Teja Zabre, Alfonso. Panorama histdrico de la revoluci6n mexicana,• Mexico: Ediciones Betas, 1939.

Trowbridge, E.D. Mexico Today and Tomorrow. New York: Macmillan, 1919.

Turner, Ethel Duffy. Ricardo Flores Mag6n v e% Partido Liberal Mexicano. Morelia, Michoacan: Editorial "Erandi" del Gobierno del Estado, 1960.

Turner, John Kenneth. Barbarous Mexico. Chicago: Charles H. Kerr G Co., 1911.

Tweedie, (Mrs.) Alec (Ethel Brilliana). The Maker of Modern Mexico: Porfirio Diaz. New York: John Lane Co., 1906.

Valades, Jos6 C. Historia general de la revolucion mexicana. Vol. I. Obras selectas sobre historia de Mexico. Mexico: Manuel Quesada Brandi, Editor, 1963.

■_____ . Imaginacidn y. realidad de Francisco I. Madero. 2 Vols. Mexico: Antigua Libreria Robredo, 1960.

Woodcock, George. Anarchism, A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements. Cleveland and New York: Meridian Books, The World Publishing Co., 1962.

Zayas Enriquez, Rafael de. Porfirio Diaz: la evolucidn de su vida. New York: D. Appleton G Co., 1908.

Articles and Periodicals

The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), 1906-1909.

The Arizona Republican (Phoenix), 1906-1909.

Blaisdell, Lowell L. "The Consul in Crisis: Lower,California, 1911," Mid-America. Vol. 37, n.s., Vol. 26, No. 3 (July, 1955), pp. 131-139.

______. "Rhys Price, the Reluctant Filibuster," The South­ western Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 38, No. 2 (Sept., 195 7) , pp. 148-161.

______. "Was It Revolution or Fillibustering? The Mystery of the Flores Mag6n Revolt in Baja California," The Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 23, No. 2 (May, 1954), pp. 147-164. 259

Blanquel, Eduardo. "El anarco-magonism," Historia Mexicana, Vol. XIII, No. 3 (Jan.-Mar., 1964), pp. 394-427.

The Border (Tucson, Arizona), 1908-1909 (Special Collections, University of Arizona Library, Tucson, Arizona).

Brayer, Herbert 0. "The Cananea Incident," New Mexico His­ torical Review, XIII (Oct., 1938), pp. 387-415.

Brown, Lyle C. "The Mexican Liberals and their Struggle against the Diaz Dictatorship; 1900-1906," Antologia, Mexico City College, 1956, pp. 317-362.

Cadenhead, Ivie E., Jr. "The American Socialists and the Mexican Revolution of 1910," The Southwestern Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Sept., 1962), pp. 103-117.

______. "Flores Magon y el periodico 'The Appeal to Reason'," Historia Mexicana, Vol. XIII, No. 1 (July-Sept.,1963), pp. 88-93.

Chamberlain, Eugene K. "Mexican Colonization versus American Interests in Lower California," Pacific Historical Re­ view, Vol. XX (Feb., 1951), pp. 43-55.

El Colmillo Pfiblico (Mexico, D.F.), 1904-1906 (Hemeroteca Nacional, Mexico, D.F.).

Cumberland, Charles C. "An Analysis of the Program of the Mexican Liberal Party," The American, IV, No. 3 (Jan., 1948), pp. 294-301.

______. "Mexican Revolutionary Movements from Texas, 1906- 1912," Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. LIT, No. 3 (Jan., 1949), pp. 301-324.

______. "Precursors of the Mexican Revolution of 1910," Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. XXII, No. 2 (May, 1942), pp. '344-356.

El Democrata (Mexico, D.F.), Sept. 1924 (Hemeroteca Nacional, Mexico, D.F.).

Flores Magon, Enrique. "Vida y hechos de los hermanos Flores Magon," in El Nacional (Mexico, D.F.), 1944-1945, filed in Archives Economicos of the Secretaria de Hacienda, Mexico, D.F. 260

Gerhard, Peter, "The Socialist Invasion of Baja California, 1 9 1 1 The Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 15, No. 3 (Sept., 1946), pp. 295-304.

Gill, Mario. "Turner, Flores Magdn y los filibusteros," Historia Mexicana, Vol. V, No. 4 (April-June, 1956), pp. 642-663.

GonzSlez, Navarro, Moises. "La huelga de Rio Blanco," Historia Mexicana, Vol. VI, No. 4 (April-June, 1957), pp. 510-533.

El Hijo del Ahuizote (Mexico, D.F.), 1902-1903 (Hemeroteca Nacional, Mexico, D.F.).

Libertad y Trabajo (Los Angeles, California), June 6, 1908 (Copy in possession of Ethel Duffy Turner, Cuerna­ vaca, Morelos, Mexico).

Martinez B&ez, Antonio, "Sarabia en San Juan de Ultia," Historia Mexicana, Vol. X, No. 2 (Oct.-Dec., 1960), pp. 342-360.

"Mexico's Martyr," The Nation, Vol. 115, No. 2998, Dec. 20, 1922, p. 702.

Mignone, A. Frederick, "A Fief for Mexico: Colonel Greene's Empire Ends," Southwest Review, XLIV (Autumn, 1959), pp. 332-339.

O'Day, Gilbert. "Ricardo Flores Magon," The Nation, Vol. 115, No. 2998, Dec. 20, 1922, pp. 689-690.

Ramirez Arriaga, Manuel, "Camilo Arriaga," speech of Nov. 20, 1949, reprinted in Repertorio de la Revolucidn, No. 4, Mexico: Ediciones del Patronato de la Historia de Sonora, 1960, pp. 5-28.

Regeneracidn (Mexico. D.F.). 1900-1901; (Los Angeles, Cali­ fornia), 1910-1918 (Hemeroteca Nacional, Mexico, D.F.).

Romero Cervantes, Arturo. "Flores Magdn: Videncia, Ira y Ternura de la Revolucidn," Boletln Bibliogrdfico de la Secretaria de Hacienda y_ CrSdito Ptiblico, Ano IX, Epoca Segunda, No. 281, Oct. 15, 1963, pp. 12-14. 261

' "Madero Frente a Flores Mag6n," ibid.V :Ano X, Epoca Segunda, No. 284, Dec. 1, 1963, pp. 4-6.

Weinberger, Harry. Letter to The New Republic, Vol. XXVI, No. 396, July 5, 1922.

Interviews

NicolSs T. Bernal, June, 1965, Mexico, D.F

Pablo L . Martinez, June, 1965, Mexico, D.F

Jos6 Munoz Cota, June, 1965, Mexico, D.F.

Ethel Duffy Turner, June, 1965, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico.